Detainee Disclosure

The lead story in today’s New York Times is titled, “U.S. Shifts, Giving Detainees’ Names to the Red Cross.” It describes a new policy by the Pentagon to notify the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) about the names of new prisoners in its Secret Operations camps. These are two camps, one each in Iraq and Afghanistan, that were the last holdouts from reversals of Bush administration policy into a more open situation in accordance with international law.

The change in policy represents one of a number of developments this week related to C.I.A. practices. The C.I.A. will be releasing a 2004 report by its Inspector General on the Agency’s interrogation program. The report is highly critical and reportedly includes instances of threatening prisoners by using a power drill and mock executions. An additional development will be an expected decision by Attorney General Eric Holder about appointing a criminal prosecutor to investigate interrogations that occurred after 9/11.

In my opinion, all these events will be painful for the United States as a country to endure, primarily because of the high ideals and standards we all hold. But they are absolutely necessary to prevent future transgressions. Only by exposing our actions to world opinion can we achieve the catharsis required to make them more unlikely in the future. If there is no punitive action, future administrations under stressful situations may be tempted to take the same actions, and maybe even more.

So, yes, it is important for us to move forward as President Obama wishes, but we also have an obligation to pursue some of the difficult admissions that will occur this week.