December 22, 2014
By Joel Connelly
The New York Times (click here) has called for a “full and independent investigation” into torture of terrorism suspects, arguing that “any credible investigation” should include possible commission of crimes by former Vice President Dick Cheney and ex-C.I.A. director George Tenet.
The 534-page executive summery of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s exhaustive investigation “erases any lingering doubt” about the “depravity and illegality” of “sadistic tactics like ‘rectal feeding’” as well as water boarding and hanging suspects by their wrists, the newspaper argued Monday in an editorial.
The Times’ editorial came as two groups, Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union, called on Attorney General Eric Holder to appoint a special prosecutor.
“The question everyone will want answered, of course is: Who should be held accountable?” The Times said. “That will depend on what an investigation finds, and as hard as it is to imagine Mr. Obama having the political courage to order a new investigation, it is harder to imagine a criminal probe of the actions of a former president.
“But any credible investigation should include former Vice President Dick Cheney; Mr. Cheney’s chief of staff, David Addington; the former C.I.A. Director George Tenet; and John Yoo and Jay Bybee, the Office of Legal Counsel lawyers who drafted what became known as the torture memos.”...
