Accidental Blogger

The story of the "enhanced interrogation techniques" used by the Bush-Cheney administration is now unfolding in strange and unexpected ways. Just until last Sunday, President Obama and his spokespersons, even while they made the torture memos public, insisted that no prosecution of the planners and the executors was on the horizon. Suddenly, just in the past two days, the position of the Obama administration has changed to "if not prosecution, at least a probe" of the matter is warranted.

Reversing weeks of White House resistance to the idea, President Barack Obama said Tuesday he’s open to creating a blue-ribbon panel to investigate Bush administration excesses during the war on terror.

“If and when there needs to be a fuller accounting of what took place during this period, I think for Congress to examine ways that it can be done in a bipartisan fashion, outside of the typical hearing process that can sometimes break down and break entirely along party lines, … that would probably be a more sensible approach to take,” Obama said during an Oval Office press availability with King Abdullah of Jordan.

Obama stopped short of endorsing the “truth commission” idea, which has been advanced in recent months by Sen. Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) and Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) However, his comments were markedly more positive toward the idea than those of White House aides, who have repeatedly brushed aside the suggestion.

Obama's reluctant hand may have been forced by lawmakers like Sen Diane Feinstein asking for further scrutiny of the torture methods and others like Sen Patrick Leahy and Congressman John Conyers demanding the impeachment of Judge Jay Baybee who as a DOJ lawyer under Bush authored a memo endorsing those methods.

The really odd thing in all this is the behavior of former vice president Dick Cheney. While all other Bush operatives have been silent, Cheney has defiantly defended the illegalities that took place during his tenure. He has even implied that the Obama administration's reluctance to participate in similar extra-Constitutional activities may endanger the security of the US.  In a stunning move, the normally secretive Cheney demanded that the CIA make public more information about torture in order to prove to the American public that techniques like waterboarding of suspected terrorists kept the country safe.  But others have suggested that the former veep may have more mercenary motives in wishing to see the secret files de-classified. He is writing a memoir and would like to use the information to brag about his muscular machismo.

Researching his memoirs, former Vice President Dick Cheney is pushing the CIA to declassify files that he claims would vindicate the CIA’s use of coercive interrogation techniques that President Barack Obama has banned.

The request, which the CIA has not yet answered, sets up a showdown between the past and current administrations. Cheney can be expected to argue that the Obama administration's publication of other files last week is a precedent for release of the reports he wants. Cheney contends that the information he seeks does not pose a threat to anyone, nor to intelligence sources and methods.

Cheney originally requested the reports in late March as he worked on his book, but now thinks the documents should be made public immediately as evidence that waterboarding and other controversial practices deterred terrorist attacks and therefore saved American lives.

The CIA declined to comment on Cheney's request. Other officials say a demand like Cheney's is so legally complex that it’s unsurprising the government has not yet answered him.

The president asserts that the techniques amounted to unwise and immoral torture, and has set out to show the world that he will take a different approach. Disavowing the memos during a visit to CIA headquarters on Monday, Obama said in public remarks to the Langley workforce: “I believe that our nation is stronger and more secure when we deploy the full measure of both our power and the power of our values –- including the rule of law.”