: re: White House and Republicans Clash Over C.I.A. Torture Report

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Tue, Dec 9, 2014 at 8:37 AM
Subject: re: White House and Republicans Clash Over C.I.A. Torture Report
To: "letters@nytimes.com"

To the Editor:

    In 1948, a fire in an engine was mishandled by the B29's flight crew. The plane crashed, killing three civilians aboard. It was a stupid, avoidable accident but--rather than pay the widows' claims for damages--the government lied, asserting that to make public the crash's details would compromise National Security. The Supreme Court upheld this, inventing the "State Secrets" doctrine. Only fifty-two years later were details of the crash and of the lie made public.

      But we are left with this destructive State Secrets doctrine, and it continues to serve to shelter the government from embarrassment more than to safeguard any real national security concerns. Of course Dick Cheney and his unindicted oo-conspirators argue against release of the Torture Report. It would embarrass them. But we cannot protect him from embarrassment and protect our republic at the same time. We need to choose openness. Because without it, our democracy is a sham.

Barry Haskell Levine

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/09/us/politics/white-house-and-gop-clash-over-torture-report.html