Several former directors of the CIA have asked the Obama administration to drop the Department of Justice inquiry into detainee torture. Why?  They give three reasons: (1) charges should not be brought based on a change in administration, (2) continuing the investigation would help Al Qaeda, and (3) the results of the investigation may cause foreign intelligence agencies to distrust the US to keep secrets.

Each of these reasons is no reason at all. In terms of the new administration, it seems pretty clear to me that the prior administration’s basis for approving torture was incorrect and immoral. One reason administrations change in a democracy is to allow faulty policies to be changed. In this case, given the extreme secrecy of the Bush Administration, digging in to find the true story of what happened is central to helping the country avoid such vile actions in the future.

How it would help Al Qaeda to apply American justice to American citizens is beyond me. And even if prosecutions to help Al Qaeda, restoring the country to a sound moral footing is worth the cause. Any damage done can be laid at the feet of those who approved the American use of torture.

Finally, I am more interested in the US citizens being able to trust our government follows the law even if that means some disclosure clandestine interactions with foreign governments (who presumably have their own torture problems to worry about, at least if they are governments to whom we moved detainees for such purpose).

One approach that might help mitigate the issues raised by the former CIA directors would be to re-focus the investigation away from the front line interrogators and dig in to the real issues as to who devise, and ordered, the use of torture at the higher levels. In some respects, the front line operations are less important going forward that what sort of flawed decision-making allows the entire mess to happen.