http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/torture/multiple-republicans-calling-for-selective-release-of-classified-torture-info/Multiple Republicans Calling For Selective Release Of Classified Torture Info
This point, which is getting lost in the noise, needs to be stated as clearly as possible:
In the wake of the damaging torture memo revelations, multiple Republicans who strongly oppose any kind of thorough airing of the torture program are now calling for the selective release of classified info for nakedly political reasons. This is essentially the GOP position on torture right now. GOPers aren’t even trying to disguise it.Yet I haven’t seen a single Republican grilled by reporters on the propriety of this basic point. Meanwhile, Obama advisers are getting hammered daily by the media for the administration’s thoroughly uncontroversial stance that the Attorney General will make final decisions about prosecutions.
The latest GOPer to go down this road is GOP Rep Pete Hoekstra, who is now calling for a probe into whether the release of the torture memos endangered our national security. For his troubles, Hoekstra got a softball interview on this topic from CNN’s Lou Dobbs. House GOP leader John Boehner, meanwhile, is calling on the President to release classified terror info — provided it could bolster Cheney’s claim that torture has worked.
The formal request that Cheney filed for the release of CIA intelligence proves clearly that he’s calling for the selective release of cherry-picked classified info to bolster his political case. Yet Cheney’s request is being treated with extraordinary deference by the traditional news orgs, with no one even questioning its propriety or legitimacy.
The emerging official position of the GOP on torture is that the only classified information about torture that should be released is that which can bolster the political fortunes of the party. When will a single Republican be pressed on this point, and when will this basic fact become part of the media narrative?