Comments on: re: Hagel, Clark and a Bipartisan Commission on Torture and Interrogation http://blog.psaonline.org/2009/01/07/re-hagel-clark-and-a-bipartisan-commission-on-torture-and-interrogation/ Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:45:45 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Michael German http://blog.psaonline.org/2009/01/07/re-hagel-clark-and-a-bipartisan-commission-on-torture-and-interrogation/comment-page-1/#comment-1560351 Michael German Thu, 08 Jan 2009 22:36:22 +0000 http://blog.psaonline.org/?p=989#comment-1560351 It’s a sad state of affairs when we’re actually debating whether government officials should be held publicly accountable for their lawlessness over the past eight years. It’s not about retribution. It’s simply that we can’t possibly begin to right the ship of state unless we have a clear understanding of what went wrong and why. A presidential truth commission is certainly one way to establish the facts so that effective reform measures can be taken, and any competent executive would want a clear understanding of how previous administrations went wrong before new policies are adopted. But Congress has a constitutional responsibility it must fulfill as well. It’s too easy to look at the excesses of the last eight years as an executive branch problem. But as Marc Ambinder’s piece points out, it was the failure of Congress to serve as an effective check against executive abuse that allowed us to go so far off course. It’s not just particular members but the whole system of oversight that failed, and that’s something that must be fixed if we are going to ensure that our constitutional system of government survives in a way the framers would recognize. History will show Congress did no favors to President Bush, or to the country, by giving a wink-and-a-nod to patently illegal and counter-productive intelligence programs. Congress can’t restore itself as a co-equal branch of government if it continues to let others do its work. It has the investigative tools and the responsibility to re-establish its relevance in national security matters. Assigning a select committee to investigate not just torture but all illegal intelligence activities would allow Members to start exercising those oversight muscles so they can better fulfill their constitutional obligations in the future. And there’s no reason that the two inquiries couldn’t proceed simultaneously. That’s what checks and balances are about. It’s a sad state of affairs when we’re actually debating whether government officials should be held publicly accountable for their lawlessness over the past eight years. It’s not about retribution. It’s simply that we can’t possibly begin to right the ship of state unless we have a clear understanding of what went wrong and why. A presidential truth commission is certainly one way to establish the facts so that effective reform measures can be taken, and any competent executive would want a clear understanding of how previous administrations went wrong before new policies are adopted. But Congress has a constitutional responsibility it must fulfill as well.

It’s too easy to look at the excesses of the last eight years as an executive branch problem. But as Marc Ambinder’s piece points out, it was the failure of Congress to serve as an effective check against executive abuse that allowed us to go so far off course. It’s not just particular members but the whole system of oversight that failed, and that’s something that must be fixed if we are going to ensure that our constitutional system of government survives in a way the framers would recognize. History will show Congress did no favors to President Bush, or to the country, by giving a wink-and-a-nod to patently illegal and counter-productive intelligence programs. Congress can’t restore itself as a co-equal branch of government if it continues to let others do its work. It has the investigative tools and the responsibility to re-establish its relevance in national security matters. Assigning a select committee to investigate not just torture but all illegal intelligence activities would allow Members to start exercising those oversight muscles so they can better fulfill their constitutional obligations in the future. And there’s no reason that the two inquiries couldn’t proceed simultaneously. That’s what checks and balances are about.

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