In Defense of National Security

With the release of the  Senate Intelligence Committee's Report on Torture it is interesting who has come out in in support of the release; and who came out against it.

Of course I expected the usual partisan breakdown along party lines, Democrats for and Republicans against.  I also expected the liberal and conservative press to line up accordingly.

So it was with some surprise that I read an article in USA Today by former Democratic Senator Robert Kerrey decrying the "partisan" nature of the report and that this was generally bad for America.  

He did shoot himself in the foot mentioning that he will wait until he has read the full report before he makes a definitive statement on whether or not "the CIA handled interrogation of detainees in an appropriate manner".  

Now normally I don't wait to read a report on the use of "enhanced interrogation techniques" to determine if I think something constitutes torture or not.

I find it even more opaque when Mr Kerrey chooses to base his view that our interrogation methods policies and procedures are aligned with our core values on John McCain.

The same John McCain who spoke passionately today in defense of the reports release and countered the usual blather with sincere, pithy retorts.

He started with  "Terrorists might use the report's re-identification (my italics) as an excuse to attack Americans, but they hardly need an excuse for that.  That has been their life's calling for a while now".

Touche.

Even more to the point, from someone who was a prisoner of war and tortured by his North Vietnamese captors:  "What might come as a surprise, not just to our enemies, but to many Americans is how little these practices did to aid our efforts....since it contradicts the many assurances provided by the intelligence official on the record and in private that enhanced interrogation techniques were indispensable in the war against terrorism."

McCain's focus is that although there are many things done in the name of war and certainly in the heat of battle this was a conscious, premeditated decision.  It is against against our core beliefs.  We fight for an ideal that is predicated on the idea that all men are endowed with with inalienable rights- and we were systematically trampling over them- without any real gain and at an immense cost to our self-image- despite the protestations of former senior CIA members and their political allies in the Senate.

Now maybe I am missing something else in Mr McCain's position, but it does make me wonder why he ever danced with Sarah Palin....