About three minutes into his national security speech today (transcript here) President Obama lowered the boom on the Bush administration. When Pres. Obama took to the podium today it wasn’t the jovial man many have come to love, but instead, the commander in chief with his chin down prepared for political battle.
… Unfortunately, faced with an uncertain threat, our government made a series of hasty decisions. And I believe that those decisions were motivated by a sincere desire to protect the American people. But I also believe that – too often – our government made decisions based upon fear rather than foresight, and all too often trimmed facts and evidence to fit ideological predispositions. Instead of strategically applying our power and our principles, we too often set those principles aside as luxuries that we could no longer afford. And in this season of fear, too many of us – Democrats and Republicans; politicians, journalists and citizens – fell silent.
In other words, we went off course. And this is not my assessment alone. It was an assessment that was shared by the American people, who nominated candidates for President from both major parties who, despite our many differences, called for a new approach – one that rejected torture, and recognized the imperative of closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay.
Now let me be clear: we are indeed at war with al Qaeda and its affiliates. We do need to update our institutions to deal with this threat. But we must do so with an abiding confidence in the rule of law and due process; in checks and balances and accountability. For reasons that I will explain, the decisions that were made over the last eight years established an ad hoc legal approach for fighting terrorism that was neither effective nor sustainable – a framework that failed to rely on our legal traditions and time-tested institutions; that failed to use our values as a compass. And that is why I took several steps upon taking office to better protect the American people.
First, I banned the use of so-called enhanced interrogation techniques by the United States of America.
I know some have argued that brutal methods like water-boarding were necessary to keep us safe. I could not disagree more. As Commander-in-Chief, I see the intelligence, I bear responsibility for keeping this country safe, and I reject the assertion that these are the most effective means of interrogation. What’s more, they undermine the rule of law. They alienate us in the world. They serve as a recruitment tool for terrorists, and increase the will of our enemies to fight us, while decreasing the will of others to work with America. They risk the lives of our troops by making it less likely that others will surrender to them in battle, and more likely that Americans will be mistreated if they are captured. In short, they did not advance our war and counter-terrorism efforts – they undermined them, and that is why I ended them once and for all. …
Immediately after the President’s speech, in an alternate universe at AEI, Dick Cheney came out coughing, spitting and spewing, but more importantly trying to rewrite history, ignoring what the Bush-Cheney administration were warned about when they took office. That the Clinton administration warned Bush and Cheney about Al Qaeda (they ignored them); and that it was Bush through Dr. Rice who demoted Richard Clarke, the only terrorism czar who knew the lay of the land when Bush and Cheney walked into office. But more importantly, Cheney’s rewrite excludes the fact that in the summer of 2001 there were “hair on fire” warnings about 9/11, which Bush ignored. That is was President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney who were on watch 9/11, and who failed at the one job of the executive, to keep the people safe. It wasn’t until it was too late that Bush-Cheney rose up, with reports now saying that their torture policy actually might have begun in order to get information about the missing WMD’s the Bush administration said would come in the form of “mushroom clouds” to our shore from Iraq. A country that had nothing to do with the terrorist attacks on 9/11, but would be the foundation of Bush-Cheney torture policies that would sever relationships across the Arab and Muslim world when Abu Ghraib photos hit the light of day.
President Obama turned head on into the misinformation Mr. Cheney offered as historical fiction. Nothing in Cheney’s speech rebutted Obama’s truthful telling of reality.
President Obama also made a point of explaining why he’s against a truth commission. It turns out to be the same reason I am against a commission as well:
When it comes to the actions of the last eight years, some Americans are angry; others want to re-fight debates that have been settled, most clearly at the ballot box in November. And I know that these debates lead directly to a call for a fuller accounting, perhaps through an Independent Commission.
I have opposed the creation of such a Commission because I believe that our existing democratic institutions are strong enough to deliver accountability. The Congress can review abuses of our values, and there are ongoing inquiries by the Congress into matters like enhanced interrogation techniques. The Department of Justice and our courts can work through and punish any violations of our laws.
The defensively divisive nature of Mr. Cheney’s speech was a naked plea to pardon the Administration he served. It’s as if he cannot forgive himself for being asleep on 9/11. But he also meant to scare people into staying on the road that he and Bush created, because if we don’t and our path back to our own American values works to make us safer, this will deligitimize the Bush – Cheney era forever. Casting these leaders as rogue torturers that led this country to disgrace.
Pres. Obama was clear today in his message given in a demeanor we rarely see from him. Tough, unyielding to what he knows is right because his path is guided by American principles set forth by our Founders. Instead of “ad hoc” concoctions that embrace torture, secrecy and executive power that not only eviscerates our Constitution, but destroyed alliances and shredding world conventions that were created to make our world a safer place.
It is in these speeches that Barack Obama is at his best. We await the carrying out of policies that live up to the pledges he’s made.
Comments are closed.