Burn after (or before) reading
By Christian Brose I still find a few particular things that Philip Zelikow wrote today remarkable and worth repeating: That the legal implication of the OLC memos is that, for reasons of national security, an American citizen could be subjected to the same "enhanced interrogration techniques" here in the United States, and it would not constitute "cruel, inhuman, or ...
I still find a few particular things that Philip Zelikow wrote today remarkable and worth repeating: That the legal implication of the OLC memos is that, for reasons of national security, an American citizen could be subjected to the same "enhanced interrogration techniques" here in the United States, and it would not constitute "cruel, inhuman, or degrading" treatment. I’m not a lawyer and can’t speak to that, but if true … whoa. And what’s more, when Philip presumably raised such arguments in an interagency memo critiquing the OLC’s legal reasoning, the White House sought to collect all copies of his memo and destroy them. That’s never been reported before.
In response, Spencer Ackerman asks what many others are undoubtedly thinking: "why didn’t he resign?" Philip can answer that himself if he wants. All I would say is this: I much prefer to have anyone in government I believe is on the right side of the issues stay and work to move policy more in that direction, because there are always opportunities, however small, to do so. I know this sense that the potential for a shift in policy was always just around the corner was what led people at the staff level like Philip, and John Bellinger, and Matt Waxman, and others to stay in the government and work to achieve it. And I for one feel fortunate that they did.
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