Dick Cheney’s request to have declassified two CIA documents that he says will prove torture is effective has been denied.
In a letter obtained by both Steven Hayes of The Weekly Standard and Greg Sargent of the Plumline, the CIA wrote to the National Archives that saying that the documents are the subject of the a Freedom of Information Act request, and therefore can’t be released.
Cheney can appeal the decision, so this could drag on. But the larger point is that the rejection of Cheney’s request shows that selective declassification requests, on either side, are never going to be adequate to get to the bottom of the torture debate. Yet another reason, then, for a full investigation.
It’s also worth bearing in mind the long history of Cheney’s bitter skirmishes with the CIA here.
