I watched Keith Olbermann's Special Comment and Jonathan Turley's appearance on Rachel Maddow's show and they both make a compelling case for prosecution on the torture issue.

And yet . . . I can't bring myself to condemn Obama on this. My stomach is churning about it and I want at least a Truth Commission but I am having a hard time blasting Obama on this. I am continuing to cogitate on the matter. For the record, my first post as a FPer at daily kos was about torture and Alberto Gonzales. So shouldn't I be outraged? Yes, and yet I can empathize with Obama here. Maybe I shouldn't, but I do.

You folks reach any conclusions? In any event, here is an Open Thread.

Here is the DOJ press release on the four torture memos released today. They are:

• A 18-page memo, dated August 1, 2002, from Jay Bybee, Assistant Attorney General, OLC, to John A. Rizzo, General Counsel CIA. [PDF]

• A 46-page memo, dated May 10, 2005, from Steven Bradbury, Acting Assistant Attorney General, OLC, to John A. Rizzo, General Counsel CIA. [PDF]

• A 20-page memo, dated May 10, 2005, from Steven Bradbury, Acting Assistant Attorney General, OLC, to John A. Rizzo, General Counsel CIA. [PDF]

• A 40-page memo, dated May 30, 2005, from Steven Bradbury, Acting Assistant Attorney General, OLC, to John A. Rizzo, General Counsel CIA. [PDF]

Here is the ACLU's press release.

Senator Leahy's proposal:

We need to get to the bottom of what happened -- and why -- so we make sure it never happens again. One path to that goal would be a reconciliation process and truth commission. . . . President Obama is right that we cannot afford extreme partisanship and debilitating divisions. . . . Rather than vengeance, we need a fair-minded pursuit of what actually happened. Sometimes the best way to move forward is getting to the truth, finding out what happened, so we can make sure it does not happen again. . . We need to come to a shared understanding of the failures of the recent past. It is something to be considered.

I do not know if I agree with this approach, but given the statements today from President Obama and Attorney General Holder, it is something to be considered.

Speaking for me only

The Department of Justice will today release certain memos issued by the Office of Legal Counsel between 2002 and 2005 as part of an ongoing court case. These memos speak to techniques that were used in the interrogation of terrorism suspects during that period, and their release is required by the rule of law.

[MORE . . .]

This could be excellent news:

After a tense internal debate, the Obama administration this afternoon will make public a number of detailed memos describing the harsh interrogation techniques used by the Central Intelligence Agency against al Qaeda suspects in secret overseas prisons. The interrogation methods were among the Bush administration’s most closely guarded secrets, and today’s release will be the most comprehensive public accounting to date of the interrogation program that some senior Obama administration officials have said used illegal torture.

[More...]

It seems to me that the Media should start asking that question. Via Atrios, JP Morgan's Jamie Dimon says they are:

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon . . . said his firm could repay U.S. government rescue funds “tomorrow.” Dimon, calling money received through the Troubled Asset Relief Program “a scarlet letter,” and “the TARP baby,” said on a conference call today that the New York-based bank is awaiting guidance from the U.S. Treasury Department. “We could pay it back tomorrow,” he said.

So pay it. Don't wait for guidance, unless the Obama Administration is prohibiting repayment. The question needs to be asked by the Media.

Speaking for me only

The New York Times has a big scoop on the warrantless NSA wiretapping program: The NSA admits it was out of control for a while and numerous Americans were tapped and had their records seized.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Diane Feinstein says the Committee will investigate.

I'm more concerned that Attorney General Eric Holder has reapproved and sought renewal of the program, saying the problems have been fixed.

As part of a periodic review of the agency’s activities, the department “detected issues that raised concerns,” it said. Justice Department officials then “took comprehensive steps to correct the situation and bring the program into compliance” with the law and court orders, the statement said. It added that Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. went to the national security court to seek a renewal of the surveillance program only after new safeguards were put in place.

A bill that would overhaul Colorado's sentencing laws to reduce or eliminate prison terms for non-violent offenders was introduced yesterday by State Senators Morgan Carroll and John Morse. The full text of the bill is here (pdf.)

A bill introduced yesterday by Sens. John Morse, D-Colorado Springs, and Morgan Carroll, D-Aurora, takes a sweeping approach to sentencing reform by aiming to lower the degree and penalty of most non-violent crimes.

[More...]

I consciously avoided denigrating the Tea Parties before because I thought the message, muddled as it was, as wrong as it was and as hypocritical as it was coming from Bush deadenders, it was a legitimate expression of a point of view. Texas Governor Rick Perry's secession threat changes that. Consider the comments thread of this eminently sensible post from Allah Pundit:

Howard Kieffer, the post-conviction consultant who misrepresented himself as an attorney and defended clients in numerous federal courts was convicted at his first trial yesterday in North Dakota. He faces up to 25 years in jail. The Indictment is here (pdf).

It's hard to find a balanced article on Howard, whom many of us around the country have encountered at legal seminars or through his Bureau of Prisons Listserv, but this recent article in the ABA Journal, Catch Me If You Can is one.

I don't recall ever meeting Howard in person, but he's commented on TalkLeft, sent some e-mails over the years and I thought his BOP List-Serv was helpful.

The Judge has continued Howard's bond pending sentencing with a requirement of home detention. He still has criminal charges pending in other jurisdictions.

Via DougJ, the return of Bell Curve Sully:

Charles Murray was onto something, wasn’t he?

Speaking for me only

Let's make this an Open Thread.

I want to underscore one vital point about this controversy that is continuously overlooked and will be undoubtedly distorted today in the event of non-disclosure: these documents are not intelligence documents. They are legal documents and, more specifically, they constitute what can only be described as secret law under which the U.S. has been governed during the Bush era. Thus, the question posed by the release of these OLC memos is not whether Obama will release to the public classified intelligence programs. The question is whether he will release to the public the legal doctrines under which the U.S. Government conducted itself regarding interrogation techniques he claims are no longer used.

Will President Obama have secret laws on torture? That's the issue today.

Speaking for me only