Not Forgetting Torture
. . . [A]s George Santayana, the eminent Harvard philosopher wrote: “Those who forget history are destined to repeat it.” Rather than lose forever the chance to grow from our missteps, here’s a two-step proposal for confronting the past without distracting from the work on the economic crisis.
The first step is to appoint a high-level commission — perhaps a McCain-Scowcroft Commission? — to investigate torture, secret detention and wiretapping during the Bush years, as well as to look ahead and offer recommendations for balancing national security and individual rights in the future.
Kristof's good faith proposal ignores the fact that the US policy on interrogation and detention policies and on wiretapping is a live issue (the President has convened a task force to study the issues) and it is the role of Congress to investigate, oversee and enact legislation regarding these issues. I have no objection to blue ribbon commissions but the Congress can not abdicate its Constitutional responsibilities. There is work to do on these issues, and it is work for the Congress and the President. No shirking. Thus when Kristof writes:
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