Clinton Dodges On Cheney's Request

Apr 22 2009, 12:38 pm by Chris Good

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) asked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today what she thought of Dick Cheney's request that memos detailing torture-begotten intel be released. She evaded a direct answer as Rohrabacher's questioning time expired--"I believe that we oughtta get to the bottom of this entire matter. I think it's in the best interest of our country, and that is what the president believes, and that's why he has taken the actions he did" (i.e., last week's memo releases), she said. Not that Clinton would have the final say over whether said documents get released, but her response left the door open, as far as what her own opinions are. Clinton said she does not consider Cheney a "reliable source of information," so it's unclear how open she is to entertaining anything he might request, but it's an interesting proposition to consider.

Comments (1)

Darius April 22, 2009 1:19 PM

Clinton's answer sounds reasonable; as you stated, it's not her decision to release the memos, so commenting further would be inappropriate.

Personally, I believe that all the torture memos should be made public - not just the instances where torture allegedly obtained good intel, but also the instances where torture obtained no intel, or even bad intel. That way, the American people can decide for themselves whether torture is worth the cost - the risk of bad intelligence, the possibility of inflicting harm on innocent people, the damage to the nation's reputation, the recruiting opportunity it provides to our enemies, and, last but certainly not least, the rampant sadism and abuse that any torture program inevitably devolves into. (See: Abu Ghraib)