A Torture Rebuttle

As my previous posts discussed what I see as the short comings in the NY Times coverage of the torture memos, I believe I should offer another side which handles the issue more clearly.

First up we have "The Memos Prove We Didn't Torture" by Mr. Rivkin, Jr. and Mr. Casey. This Op-Ed out shines both Times pieces in a number of ways. First, it quotes from the memos. Four two or three-word phrases and two sentences of thirty or more words. For example, the authors quote a critical Red Cross report that asserted techniques were designed to "forcefully bang the head and body against the wall." The authors then counter this assertion by pointing out the shoulder blades are actually the point of impact and go on to quote the memos themselves, which state, "the idea is to create a sound that will make the impact seem far worse than it is and that will be far worse than any injury that might result from the action." The authors of this op-ed do not pontificate from a preconceived position, but rather engage the material.

Second, we have "The President Ties His Own Hands on Terror." This op-ed confronts many issues, including proponents reasons for believing the memos should be released (we're not using them so why keep them secret, they were ineffective, the ACLU sued so they had to be made public), the effects this could have on the intelligence communities moral and their future ability to rely on opinions from the Office of Legal Counsel. The responses to each of these issues are quite strong and would actually lose credibility, if it were not for the authors credentials. The authors assert the techniques "were used selectively against only a small number of hard-core prisoners who successfully resisted other forms of interrogation, and then only with the explicit authorization of the director of the CIA." How can the authors claim to know that the techniques were used "selectively" and only with "explicit authorization"? I would have thought it was simply a Republican talking point, if the authors were not Gen. Hayden and Mr. Mukasey, director of the CIA and Attorney General, respectively.

In short, the WSJ offerings directly engage the material with quotes and counter arguments while being more logically and directly composed.