Here's a Letter to the Editor of the Mpls. Star Tribune
I sent off a few minutes ago.
In the Star Tribune of June 7, the AP story, "Justice lawyers sought to limit interrogation tactics against terror suspects, but overruled," cites the New York Times for much of the information. The article closes with this excerpt from the Times web site,"that even among those Justice Department lawyers who objected to some of the methods, there were few claims that specific methods violated the law banning torture."
One claim should have been enough to stop it. However, more troubling is the fact that torture of "enemy combatants" is not a domestic issue for the Department of Justice alone. Why didn't these discussions, memos and emails on torturing people from other countries in different countries around the world during a "time of war" include the opinions of lawyers from the State Department and the Defense Department?
These are the organizations that would be most affected, yet their opinions, insight and wisdom are absent from the record. Isn't this the story that the journalists of the Associated Press, the New York Times and Star Tribune should be writing?
--end of letter--
Note: I didn't want to suggest the AP, New York Times and Star Tribune were engaged in spin, nor did I want to diminish the focus of the letter, so I didn't ask another pertinent question: How many of the Justice Department officials involved in these discussions were Bush appointees?
Will the Star Tribune print it? Take part in this week's poll.
I sent off a few minutes ago.
In the Star Tribune of June 7, the AP story, "Justice lawyers sought to limit interrogation tactics against terror suspects, but overruled," cites the New York Times for much of the information. The article closes with this excerpt from the Times web site,"that even among those Justice Department lawyers who objected to some of the methods, there were few claims that specific methods violated the law banning torture."
One claim should have been enough to stop it. However, more troubling is the fact that torture of "enemy combatants" is not a domestic issue for the Department of Justice alone. Why didn't these discussions, memos and emails on torturing people from other countries in different countries around the world during a "time of war" include the opinions of lawyers from the State Department and the Defense Department?
These are the organizations that would be most affected, yet their opinions, insight and wisdom are absent from the record. Isn't this the story that the journalists of the Associated Press, the New York Times and Star Tribune should be writing?
--end of letter--
Note: I didn't want to suggest the AP, New York Times and Star Tribune were engaged in spin, nor did I want to diminish the focus of the letter, so I didn't ask another pertinent question: How many of the Justice Department officials involved in these discussions were Bush appointees?
Will the Star Tribune print it? Take part in this week's poll.
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