George W. Bush is out defending torture again. Don't listen to him.
CIA apologists are not immune to conflicts of interest


A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Thank you for signing up to TheWeek. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
A Senate report denouncing the CIA's torture program in the years after 9/11 is reportedly going to be released this week, after years of delay. Naturally, this has prompted a last-ditch effort from the orchestrators of the program to prevent damage to their reputations, including a rare TV appearance from George W. Bush.
These people should all be jeered and pelted with rotten fruit.
There is simply no reason to trust them, and every reason to think they are either lying to themselves or the public. The torture report should be released immediately.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Of course, they can't say, "I oppose releasing the torture report because it will draw attention to the fact that I committed war crimes and achieved nothing for it," so they're left with dissembling madly. Let's examine their claims and why they deserve no benefit of the doubt.
The first tactic is simple BS. The Senate report apparently says that the CIA repeatedly lied to President Bush about the effectiveness of torture, but according to The New York Times' Peter Baker, Bush-era officials have decided to stand behind the agency anyway. On CNN, Bush told Candy Crowley that "we're fortunate to have men and women who work hard at the CIA serving on our behalf. These are patriots and whatever the report says, if it diminishes their contributions to our country, it is way off base."
There is no argument at all here, just a simple assertion that the CIA is actually good. Since Bush has a gigantic political and psychological investment in not being remembered as a war criminal, his perspective (like that of Michael Hayden's) is highly suspect.
A second tactic is good old terror-baiting. Release the torture report and Americans will be slaughtered en masse, according to Bush apologist Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), chair of the House Intelligence Committee. Dan Drezner dispensed with that gambit with a hilarious hypothetical scenario outlining how the logic is supposed to work:
ABDUL: You are not outraged about all the stories of infidels torturing our Muslim brothers in Abu Ghraib, in Bagram, in Guantánamo Bay? The stories about infidel soldiers desecrating the Koran?
AHMED: It's not enough for me to take up arms.
ABDUL: You are not outraged by the just-released Senate report about CIA torture?
AHMED: Wait, did you say 'Senate report'? OK, I will take up arms now. [The Washington Post]
Note that practically all the facts have already been well established — people have written whole books on the subject. The fact of American torture is widely known in the Middle East and elsewhere.
Least credible of all the torture apologists is Jose Rodriguez, the gormless, fumbling incompetent who not only ran the CIA's torture program but also destroyed video evidence of it (about which he later boasted to Lesley Stahl on 60 Minutes). He has an op-ed defending his torture record in The Washington Post. It would be difficult to imagine a more absurd conflict of interest. What's next, Charles Manson's perspective on the Tate murders?
The grimly protracted process over releasing this rotten report has become less an accounting of the CIA and more about whether the American government can manage even the tiniest bit of accountability for horrific war crimes. It has long been clear that there won't be any actual legal accountability (remember that torture unto death is a capital crime), but it seems even an official report with little practical significance is more than our system can take.
Last week Secretary of State John Kerry was whining to Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) that the release of the report would inconvenience some diplomatic stuff. Apparently, when it comes to this president — and the previous one, and most of the American government — minor inconvenience is more important than trying to prevent more pointless torture.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
Sign up to our 10 Things You Need to Know Today newsletter
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Ryan Cooper is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. His work has appeared in the Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and the Washington Post.
-
'Accepting defeat is Rishi Sunak's only hope of victory'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By The Week Staff Published
-
Royal family website attacked by Russian hackers
Speed Read Pro-Kremlin group claim responsibility just two weeks after King Charles condemns invasion of Ukraine
By The Week Staff Published
-
Larry the cat: how chief mouser 'won the nation's hearts'
Why Everyone's Talking About Downing Street says resident pet is 'healthy' despite reports of contingency plans for his death
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Dianne Feinstein, history-making Democratic US senator, dies at 90
The Explainer Her colleagues celebrate her legacy as a trailblazer who cleared the path for other women to follow
By Theara Coleman Published
-
Will the cannabis banking bill get the Senate's green light?
Talking Point The SAFER Banking Act is advancing to the US Senate for the first time, clearing a major hurdle for legal cannabis businesses. Does it stand a chance?
By Theara Coleman Published
-
Trump surrenders in Georgia election subversion case
Speed Read
By Catherine Garcia Published
-
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries chosen to succeed Pelosi as leader of House Democrats
Speed Read
By Brigid Kennedy Published
-
GOP leader Kevin McCarthy's bid for House speaker may really be in peril
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Are China's protests a real threat for Beijing?
opinion The sharpest opinions on the debate from around the web
By Harold Maass Published
-
Who is Nick Fuentes, the white nationalist who dined with Trump and Kanye?
Speed Read From Charlottesville to Mar-a-Lago in just five years
By Rafi Schwartz Published
-
Jury convicts Oath Keepers Stewart Rhodes, Kelly Meggs of seditious conspiracy in landmark Jan. 6 verdict
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published