The New York Times editorial page is absolutely right that the issue of torture is as
pressing now as ever:
[T]he [torture] issue is as urgent as ever. Hundreds of men remain imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay, years after any information they had might have been useful and in defiance of two Supreme Court decisions. American soldiers hold thousands of Afghan and Iraqi prisoners under rules that remain murky, to put it charitably.
American intelligence is still secretly detaining prisoners - a practice that has become embarrassing enough for the Central Intelligence Agency to fret publicly about it. And the administration continues to insist that the president has an imperial right to sweep aside the law and authorize whatever he wants. That includes flouting treaties that prohibit sending prisoners to other countries to be tortured. That abhorrent practice has become more common since 9/11 and is reported to include sending prisoners to Syria, a repressive nation counted by Washington as a state sponsor of terrorism.
. . .
But that task is now way beyond the purview of the Senate Armed Services Committee, which held important hearings on prisoner abuse. Republican Congressional leaders have made it painfully clear that they will not hold a real investigation. And no inquiry by the executive branch can be credible because the stain of prisoner abuse spreads so far. The Justice Department can't do it; Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was part of the problem.
We strongly agree with the American Bar Association, which wrote to President Bush on Feb. 1 to urge the appointment of an independent, bipartisan commission with subpoena power. The bar association talked about Iraqi civilians in military custody, but we believe that a panel should look at all prisoners, all detention centers and all involved government agencies.
Only a full accounting can begin to heal the nation's image in the world, clarify the rules, punish those responsible and clear the names of the hundreds of thousands of other uniformed Americans who risk their lives to preserve human dignity and the rule of law.
A special note on Gonzales - it is precisely Gonzales' role and performance in his confirmation hearing that make him unfit for the office of Attorney General. To this day, Gonzales has not renounced the views expressed in the August 2002 Bybee Memo. He merely states that it is not NOW the "Executive" Branch view, implying his lack of disagreement with it. He continues to endorse the flouting of the UN Convention on Torture and the outrageous view that the President can override federal law, the Constitution and international treaties.
I again urge those Democratic Senators who voted Yes on Gonzales to prove that they do not condone torture by demanding answers from the Bush Administration and Gonzales. And yes, I still believe that Senator Salazar is uniquely placed to forcefully argue for such an accounting. It would be the stand up thing to do.