Today is Emancipation Day. I asked my kids if they knew what that meant, and one volunteered, "We're emancipated from school!"
I can expect my 5-year-old to be a little confused on this concept. But if the government has a valid reason for the Guantánamo-esque games it's playing by withholding the three Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) "Bradbury memos"--authorizing and excusing torture--then let's hear it. (Others among the most controversial OLC memos, for example on warrantless wiretapping--which the New York Times reveals today went beyond even the extremely broad legal "limits" established last year--are also still secret, despite FOIA requests. See http://www.nytimes.com/...)
A number of reasons have been floated for the continued Guantánamo-esque games. But they are political reasons, not legal justifications, and are beside the point. I'm rolling up my sleeves to file a lawsuit in federal court.
I issued the first Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, http://www.whistleblower.org/..., following Attorney General Eric Holder's promulgation of new FOIA guidelines for the Department of Justice on March 19, 2009: http://www.whistleblower.org/...
I did this, among other reasons, to test the new FOIA presumption in favor of disclosure as part of the Government Accountability Project's "Show Me the Memos" effort. I also want to see the memos because, with titles like Approval of CIA Interrogation Techniques and Determination That All CIA Interrogations Were Legal--I think it's in the public's interest to know what their country has been doing. Moreover, revelation of the memos would (should) make it impossible not to at least investigate U.S. involvement in torture.
Today is the 20-day legal deadline for the agency (in this case, the Justice Department) to respond or seek an extension. It has done neither.
Many reasons have been floated for withholding the memos: undercurrent from the CIA against release, threats by Republicans to hold up nominees, the tsunami for war crimes prosecutions that the memos would unleash, Obama wanting to spend his political capital on economic issues rather than transparency.
But these reasons are all political excuses, not legal justifications. This is not change I can believe in. It's not change at all. It's a continuation of Bush's privileging secrecy and expansive executive power over the Constitution. This is not what I sacrificed my personal and professional life for, campaigned for, or voted for.
It adds insult to injury that this is happening on Emancipation Day and the day the Ridenhour Prizes for courage and truth-telling are being awarded to those who helped reveal the worst Bush secrets (Thomas Tamm-warrantless wiretapping; Jane Mayer-torture; Bob Herbert . . .)