| Amid the noise from Third Way centrists like uberelite David Broder, suggesting we'd all be better off if we just "walked on by" (to quote another disgusting media elitist), Oregon's senior Senator has put himself out front for the more rationally composed among us, going on Rachel Maddow's show last night to strongly affirm Bush admin interrogations as "torture" and declaring himself open to prosecutions if evidence warrants. It's worth watching the whole thing, but Wyden's excerpt starts around 3:30:
He doesn't go too far out on a limb with affirmative statements, but does establish that the locus of control for investigating is the Department of Justice, and that he will be actively involved in passing any information out of his intel committee to AG Holder and the DoJ. A sampling of his comments:
First of all, it is very clear that waterboarding is torture. We prosecuted after WWII the Japanese, for doing it to our folks...I think the President has laid out a plan for moving forward. First, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that I serve on, we're out of the gates now. We've got people in place, we're doing the inquiry, and given the fact that many of us protested these interrogation techniques as soon as we found out, we are very motivated to get to the truth. When we get that information, certainly if there are matters that need to be followed up on, such as matters before the Justice Department, we will get it to them...The Justice Department is an independent agency. It's our job to find the facts....I was one of 19 Senators who opposed Judge Bybee at the time. I was particularly troubled by his approach to the Geneva Conventions, matters that he'd written on. With respect to the issue of impeachment, that's before the House of Representatives. If it comes to the US Senate I'd sit as a juror and at that point I'd be making judgements. Emphasis mine, because we desperately need more pushback on this simple truth: waterboarding was torture. I hope it spreads. Overall, good talk. Let's see the action behind it. |
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