Internal Obama Debate: Investigate Torture?

Within the incoming Obama administration, there appears to be two separate camps on the issue of whether or not to investigate torture that took place on Bush’s watch.  Newsweek reports that, while Obama says he wants to “move forward”, there is more pressure to investigate now that a Pentagon official has admitted that treatment of a Gitmo detainee “met the legal definition of torture.”

Likely attorney general Eric Holder signaled his displeasure with current policy when he acknowledged that waterboarding is torture. But the CIA isn’t pleased with the prospect of an investigation.

Both [outgoing CIA chief  Michael] Hayden and Mike McConnell, the outgoing intel czar, said last week that the Obama administration should leave the CIA with the option of using interrogation methods outside the scope of a U.S. Army interrogation manual; legislation proposed by congressional Democrats would prohibit any methods not outlined in the manual. “We’re a secret intelligence service,” Hayden said. “We are asked to do things routinely that … no one else [is] ever asked to do. We have to take risks.”

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.