Earlier today, Jameel Jaffer of the ACLU went on MSNBC, and made a crucial point about the decision to probe torture.
The problem, argued Jaffer, is not that we’re investigating clear evidence of law-breaking — as Dick Cheney and countless conservatives would have it. Rather, it’s that the scope of the investigation, as we’ve noted, appears to be unduly narrow. As things stand, it focuses on CIA personnel, but ignores the Bush administration officials — both Justice Department lawyers like John Yoo, and high-ranking policy-makers like Cheney himself — who authorized and approved torture in the first place.
It’s largely thanks to the tireless efforts of Jaffer and an ACLU colleague that we know what we do about the Bush administration’s torture program. He’s worth listening to.
Watch: