Legal Commentary

Stuart Taylor Calls For Truth Commission

By Big Tent Democrat

In a series of posts, I will be reviewing a series of disagreements that have arisen between he and I (from the legality, to the effectivness to the respect for the rule of law and many others, note also my apology for unfairly questioning Mr. Taylor's integrity) regarding his most recent article in the National Journal on torture (I wrote about that article here and other articles he authored or coauthored (see here and here) on this issues pertinent to the discussion. I want to start by praising Mr. Taylor, not burying him. In his most recent article, Taylor wrote that:

[President Obama] should commission an expert review of what interrogators learned from the high-value detainees both before and after using brutal methods and whether those methods appear to have saved lives. He should also foster a better-informed public debate by declassifying as much of the relevant evidence as possible, as former Vice President Cheney and other Republicans have urged.”

I am not sure that that is precisely what Vice President Cheney urged (Cheney wants certain documents HE selected declassified.) But to Taylor's credit, he wants it all declassified. As do I. Kudos to Mr. Taylor for his call for a Truth Commission. I'll explore other issues raised by Mr. Taylor in subsequent posts.

Speaking for me only

Full post as published by TalkLeft on April 28, 2009 (boomark / email).