Some Congressional Democrats are clamoring for investigations of Bush-era crimes, as The New York Times reports. But what's more important than partisan bashing of Bush officials is an honest and clearly-directed search for the truth. Finding out what happened in the early years of the "dirty war" -- as Europeans are now calling Bush’s efforts to rid the world of terrorism -- is the first step toward accountability, and there is no shortage of questions. “We still don’t know exactly what the [domestic surveillance] program was doing,” Bart Gellman, author of Angler: The Cheney Vice President, told me. “I just broke my sword on that.”
An unclassified report on the program, written by the inspectors general for the intelligence agencies, was released on July 10, but many questions still remain. We don't know, for example, what the CIA was doing in a building known as the Kheirolla Tolfah house in Tikrit in April 2004, a place where a 34-year-old Iraqi man was shocked with “a tazer type devise,” according to sworn statements gathered by military investigators looking into complaints from detainees. One Iraqi man said that someone applied electrical shocks to his feet while he was in the house. Military investigators said the investigation was closed, and the reason was straight forward: “This center belonged to the CIA.” Therefore, further questioning, even from U.S. government investigators, was not allowed.
The good news is that Attorney General Eric Holder “has been leaning toward opening an interrogation inquiry,” as Scott Shane reports in the Times article. Further investigations into Bush-era activities are necessary, but initially, they should be pointed and specific: Finding out what CIA officers did in the dirty hovels and sheds of Tikrit and other Iraqi cities, for instance, is important. An overly politicized approach to the issue, and rushing into a series of inquiries, will lead only to sweeping condemnations. What we need are particulars about the incidents that are still shrouded in darkness. Then we can begin sorting out what happens next.
--Tara McKelvey
Photo of Eric Holder via Flickr user Mira (on the wall)
