Responding to the release of the OLC memos, Sen. Patrick Leahy repeats his call for a truth commission.
The Office of Legal Counsel issues legal opinions that are binding on the executive branch. With this awesome power comes the responsibility to provide objective unbiased advice – and to get it right. We cannot continue to look the other way; we need to understand how these policies were formed if we are to ensure that this can never happen again. This is why my proposal for a Commission of Inquiry is necessary. We must take a thorough accounting of what happened, not to move a partisan agenda, but to own up to what was done in the name of national security, and to learn from it. This is another step in that direction. I appreciate the White House notifying me about this release and I commend the President for making these documents public.
Leahy also takes a few shots at the Bush administration: " The techniques are chilling. This was not an 'abstract legal theory,' as some former Bush administration officials have characterized it. These were specific techniques authorized to be used on real people." We don't know exactly what's in the memos yet, but it will be interesting to see whether public reaction to their content will lend political momentum to Leahy's efforts.
-- A. Serwer
