So the Obama policy on interrogation of enemies is (for the moment) that the Bush-era people who did so will not be prosecuted, but maybe those who gave them legal authority will be prosecuted. This is sufficiently incoherent that it probably will change. However, the impact of the policy has already had bad effects, according to David Ignatius in the WaPo:

it’s slow roll time at Langley after the release of interrogation memos that, in the words of one veteran officer, “hit the agency like a car bomb in the driveway.” President Obama promised CIA officers that they won’t be prosecuted for carrying out lawful orders, but the people on the firing line don’t believe him. They think the memos have opened a new season of investigation and retribution.

The lesson for younger officers is obvious: Keep your head down. Duck the assignments that carry political risk. Stay away from a counterterrorism program that has become a career hazard.

Obama tried personally to reassure the CIA work force during a visit to Langley Monday. He said all the right things about the agency’s clandestine role. But it had the look of a campaign event, with employees hooting and hollering and the president reading from his teleprompter with a backdrop of stars that commemorate the CIA’s fallen warriors.

But by Tuesday, Obama was deferring to the attorney general whether to prosecute “those who formulated those legal decisions,” whatever that means. Obama seems to think he can have it both ways…Life doesn’t work that way…

agents in the field are already getting more careful about using the legal findings that authorize covert action. An example is the so-called “risk of capture” interview that takes place in the first hour after a terrorism suspect is grabbed. This used to be the key window of opportunity, in which the subject was questioned aggressively and his cell phone contacts and “pocket litter” were exploited quickly. Now, field officers are more careful. They want guidance from headquarters. They need legal advice.

We once said that the worst thing about releasing the CIA legal memos was not that they revealed specific techniques, but that they revealed America to be so weak and confused that it needed tens of thousands of man-hours from its tens of thousands of government lawyers before even being able to begin an interrogation. It was meant a little tongue in cheek, but apparently there’s some truth there.

The Obama administration has dealt with the American people in bad faith on this issue. A good faith approach would have included releasing or not redacting the memos that show that the interrogations actually got crucial information from enemy captives. An acknowledgment of the practical successes of the Bush policy would appear to us to be a clear requirement for a good faith explication of the government’s new policy. (BTW, an unintentionally funny moment came from a commentator who now apparently says that any coercion that produces results should be called torture — what a world!)

Finally, we are getting more than a little creeped out at these phony Potemkin-rock-star receptions that the President is getting from non-political government employees in places like the CIA and Iraq. It is especially disturbing because one knows that many of those doing the “hooting and hollering” don’t have much regard for the man as commander-in-chief.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 23rd, 2009 at 1:17 am and is filed under Democrats, General, MSM, War. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.