ED MORRISSEY: Waterboarding is torture and Congress should outlaw it. That would, however, require courage.
Hmmm, didn’t someone around here (and over there) say that recently??? OK, certainly not as eloquently, or verbosely, but it’s the same point all the same.
Congress should quit debating whether current law covers waterboarding and clear the issue up once and for all. As Nance says, detainees already released have spoken publicly about interrogation techniques, so publicly taking waterboarding off the list of options doesn’t really impact interrogations. As I wrote a few days ago, forcing an Attorney General to declare it illegal as the price of confirmation functionally does the same thing as an explicit law outlawing waterboarding — only it shifts responsibility for legislation from Congress to the AG and basically forces him to make up laws as he goes along.
And isn’t it interesting that the Democrats keep wanting to shift the responsibility, and the blame, to other people. Whether it’s the courts on social issues, or here, the AG on a legislative issue, they can’t seem to get the traction on their issues to actually get a law passed.
By the way, is that an approving link?
Indeed. For someone who has linked just as vociferously about the silliness of being concerned with torture and waterboarding, I was surprised.
Uh, he links to many views. And he has not himself said anything like that Joshua, he has never said it was silly to be concerned with torture or waterboarding, in fact the opposite. He has also been critical of the administration’s novel legal theories, the patriot act, and many, many, other things. I have pointed out what he is complaining about, and he is right.
That being said, I don’t know that he necessarily agrees with Nance, he may link to Alan Dershowitz tomorrow, or later this evening. Many people treat his links as Rorschach tests. They mean what they want them to mean.
I really do think people try to read to much into some of his pithy comments or quotes from others.
He links to things he finds interesting. Whether he is for or against what is represented in the link, is not always apparent. Unless he explains his views explicitly, I think people ought to take the link as something to talk about. As in a coffee klatsch where a topic is thrown out for discussion. “Please talk amoung yourselves.”
But the real thrust of the piece is why doesn’t Congress actually do something about water boarding, either make it illegal, or STFU.