My paper, the Las Vegas Review-Journal, carried a news article today wherein our Repu'ublicist senator John Ensign whined about the current criticism and calls for impeachment of Torture Memo Boy Jay Bybee. My response:

By his own hand in the 08-01-2002 OLC torture memo, in considerable damning detail, Mr. Bybee is complicit in subornation of war crimes. You Bush apologists -- including the ever-predictable Party-Before-Country John Ensign -- don't get to parse away and define torture down. This is not even a close call. We imprisoned and even executed people for participation in the very same types of acts. Look up the history.

The fact that Mr. Bybee now sits comfortably on the federal bench owes ENTIRELY to the suppression of this torture memo during the time of his judicial confirmation hearing. Had it come publicly to light, he would never have been confirmed. He should not have been confirmed. He, and his fellow torture conspirators should be fully and openly investigated for having put this odious moral stain on our nation. They have put the nation and its defenders at significantly greater risk while sullying our reputation in the world.

The Israeli High Court once had to slap down its own intel service over torture -- and, you cannot accuse the Israelis of being "soft, liberal, terrorist coddlers" either. Their conclusion:

"This is the destiny of a democracy—it does not see all means as acceptable, and the ways of its enemies are not always open before it. A democracy must sometimes fight with one hand tied behind its back. Even so, a democracy has the upper hand. The rule of law and the liberty of an individual constitute important components in its understanding of security. At the end of the day, they strengthen its spirit and this strength allows it to overcome its difficulties."

Google "Educing Information" to find the 372 page report by our own National Defense Intelligence College. That's where I found the quote.

Mr. Attorney General Holder;

By his own hand in the 08-01-2002 OLC torture memo, in considerable damning detail, Mr. Bybee appears explicitly complicit in subornation of war crimes. You don't get to parse away and define torture down. This is not even a close call. We imprisoned and even executed people for participation in the very same types of acts. The history could not be more clear.

The fact that Mr. Bybee now sits comfortably on the federal bench owes ENTIRELY to the suppression of this torture memo during the time of his judicial confirmation hearing. Had it come publicly to light, he would never have been confirmed. He should not have been confirmed. He, and his fellow torture conspirators should be fully and openly investigated for having put this odious moral stain on our nation. They have put the nation and its defenders at significantly greater risk while sullying our reputation in the world.

The Israeli High Court once had to slap down its own intel service over torture -- and, you cannot accuse the Israelis of being "soft, liberal, terrorist coddlers" either. Their conclusion:

"This is the destiny of a democracy—it does not see all means as acceptable, and the ways of its enemies are not always open before it. A democracy must sometimes fight with one hand tied behind its back. Even so, a democracy has the upper hand. The rule of law and the liberty of an individual constitute important components in its understanding of security. At the end of the day, they strengthen its spirit and this strength allows it to overcome its difficulties."

See "Educing Information," the 372 page report issued by our own National Defense Intelligence College. That's where I found the quote.

Do the right thing. Minimally, appoint a neutral and respectable independent prosecutor to investigate these matters. There must be accountability. Absent that, we are really no better than our enemies, for the incentive and opportunities to behave as do they will remain.

Thank you.

Robert E. Gladd

Gary, you get an "F" for unacceptable imprecision and commission of the fallacy of anecdotalism.

Y'know what would incontrovertibly "work" perfectly in law enforcement more broadly? Simply kill every suspect you arrest (maybe after torturing them). While your statistical "specificity" would be zero, your "sensitivity" would be 100% (but, just of the true positive Bad Guys among your collars).

It IS in fact always wrong. Documentably enumerate for me the "Ticking Time Bomb" incidents quelled via torture. You cannot.