What do the President’s “values”
    say about outsourcing torture?

The President says he’s against torture, but his administration backs the torture-outsourcing bill. What gives?

Katherine R at Obsidian Wings updates the torture-outsourcing story, and makes an excellent point: the President has said that he’s against torture, but his Administration is backing a bill that would allow the U.S. to send people abroad to be tortured.

Yet no journalist has asked the President or his spokespeople to account for the contradiction. Who wants to be first?

Or this would be a great question at the “Town Hall” debate, don’t you think?

So far, I’ve seen no attempt by anyone in Blogspace to defend the proposed legislation or the President’s position on it. I’d be happy to link to whatever is out there, if someone will point me to it. (Here’s one.)

Update Wait! It gets worse. The bill has a “court-stripping” provision to insulate it from judicial review. This is the right wing’s new favorite way to evade pesky Constitutional provisions that get in away of its latest hatred. It’s a scary, scary precedent, and one that no one who deserves the label “conservative” would be willing to establish, especially in so disgusting a cause.

Ted at Crooked Timber prints Ed Markey’s letter to George W. Bush, who may not be sure whether we can win the war on terror but is doing a good job waging war on the Constitution.

Author: Mark Kleiman

Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out. Books: Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken) When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993) Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989) UCLA Homepage Curriculum Vitae Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com

One thought on “What do the President’s “values”
    say about outsourcing torture?”

  1. Update on the Outsourcing of Torture

    The Corpus Callosum has conducted its own survey, and would like to add the following to the list of those opposed to the outsourcing of torture:

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