Michael Hayden (the previous CIA director) and Michael Mukasey (the previous Attorney General) have an op-ed shredding any case for releasing the OLC interrogation memos. They make excellent points including (1) the lack of any necessity to release them, (2) the damage done by releasing them, and (3) the fact that coercive interrogation really is effective, notwithstanding claims to the contrary. But I think their conclusion is the most important:
In his book “The Terror Presidency,” Jack Goldsmith describes the phenomenon we are now experiencing, and its inevitable effect, referring to what he calls “cycles of timidity and aggression” that have weakened intelligence gathering in the past. Politicians pressure the intelligence community to push to the legal limit, and then cast accusations when aggressiveness goes out of style, thereby encouraging risk aversion, and then, as occurred in the wake of 9/11, criticizing the intelligence community for feckless timidity. He calls these cycles “a terrible problem for our national security.” Indeed they are, and the precipitous release of these OLC opinions simply makes the problem worse.
(Via the Corner.)
Think back to the summer of 2002. With elections approaching, the Democrats needed to bring down President Bush’s stratospheric approval ratings. They decided to take on their problem directly and accuse the Administration of having been insufficiently vigorous in protecting the United States from attack. It didn’t work, in part because the Democrats were seen as unserious on the issue (particularly once Republicans fought back), but they did succeed in politicizing the war on terror. Over the following years, when no additional attacks occurred, the national consensus faded, and the campaign against terror became a Republican thing. It wasn’t long until Democrats were accusing the Administration of being excessively vigorous in protecting the United States from attack. Democrats have been back to September 10 for some time, but now they’re in ascendance. This is very dangerous.
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