Judiciary chairs Leahy, Conyers still demand truth commission

[babylonsister]

http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/0809/Judiciary_chairs_still_demand_truth_commission.html

Judiciary chairs still demand truth commission


The chairmen of the House and Senate judiciary committees are applauding the appointment of a special prosecutor to probe new reports of torture of terror suspects — but they still want an independent truth commission to investigate the CIA-led interrogations.

Earlier today, the CIA's inspector general released a heavily redacted report revealing a range of potential abuses, including one instance in which interrogators threatened to kill the children of one detainee — and another report that a detainee's mother was threatened with sexual assault if her son didn't provide information.

Attorney General Eric Holder was so shocked by the report he authorized special prosecutor John Durham to potentially reopen about a dozen potential torture cases.

Good but not good enough, says Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), who has called for the investigation of Bush administration lawyers who crafted the legal rationale for the interrogations.

"The conduct that is documented in this report illustrates the perils of the dark road of excusing torture down which the Bush administration took this nation," he wrote in a statement. "I also believe it underscores why we need to move forward with a Commission of Inquiry, a nonpartisan review of exactly what happened in these areas, so that we can find out what happened and why. Who justified these policies? What was the role of the Bush White House? How can we make sure it never happens again? Information coming out in dribs and drabs will never paint the full picture."

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.): "{M}uch more remains to be done. The gruesome acts described in today’s report did not happen in a vacuum. It would not be fair or just for frontline personnel to be held accountable while the policymakers and lawyers escape scrutiny after creating and approving conditions where such abuses were all but inevitable to occur.

“I have long believed that Department rules require a special counsel to review the entire interrogation program to determine if any crimes were committed. An independent and bipartisan commission should also be convened to evaluate the broader issues raised by the Bush Administration’s brutal torture program,” he added.

[leveymg]

1. Just indict the bastards, already.

Truth Commissions are something you do if you can't.