Again, credit where credit is due. On Face the Nation this morning, Sen. John McCain said, in no uncertain terms, that the Bush Administration violated the Geneva Conventions and the U.N. Convention Against Torture. He underscored his comments by saying that torture is wrong, counterproductive and doesn't work.
MCCAIN: [Torture memo author Jay Bybee] falls into the same category as everybody else, as far as giving very bad advice and misinterpreting fundamentally what the United States is all about, much less things like the Geneva Conventions. Under President Reagan, we signed [the Convention] Against Torture. We were in violation of that."
... Go below the fold for the video and analysis ...
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Here's the video:
McCain also said that he doesn't believe that we need investigations. This puzzles me. If McCain admits that the Bush administration violated the Geneva Conventions and the U.N. Convention Against Torture, that means that the people that formulated the torture policy are guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
I just don't get how you can "move on" from fundamental violations of U.S. and international law that we routinely call on other nations to prosecute.
Here's how Steve Benen describes McCain's puzzlingly contradictory interview:
On CBS's "Face the Nation" this morning, John McCain dismissed the entire idea of criminal wrongdoing in relation to the Bush administration's torture policies. "No one," McCain said, "has alleged 'wrongdoing'" on the part of former administration officials. He added, "We need to put this behind us. We need to move forward"...
The problem, then, is with John McCain's definition of "wrongdoing." As Metavirus noted, the reference to the agreement endorsed by Reagan was the United Nations Convention Against Torture, signed in 1988. The Bush administration, McCain conceded, was "in violation of that."
Given this, it sure would be helpful if McCain could clarify matters for us. McCain believes Bush administration officials aren't guilty of "wrongdoing," so there's no need for any kind of investigation. McCain also believes Bush administration officials violated U.S. and international law.
So, I'm curious -- what, exactly, does McCain consider "wrongdoing"? And why should U.S. officials deliberately ignore evidence of violations of the law?
I guess we're only justified in "looking backward" and exacting "retribution" when the former President makes a questionable pardon. Remember the Republican screams for a Congressional/Bush DOJ investigation back in the Marc Rich days?
Here was wise sage Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC) back in 2001:
We need to look at to make sure exactly what happened is known to the public and to deter any future president from doing like behavior, if it was wrong. In that regard, if we can do it in a bipartisan fashion, I think that's what we should do. Every American benefits when you can control X abuse of power. If this was an abuse of power, then we need to know about it.
It just goes to show you that bad things are only bad if Democrats do it.
Earlier: McCain Unequivocally Says That Waterboarding is Torture