Release all memos, analyst suggests

A former West Point professor and onetime Naval College instructor says the Obama administration should release all pertinent memos regarding the use of waterboarding and other "enhanced" interrogation methods so that the American public can make an informed decision about what happened.

James Carafano, now with the Institute for International Studies at the Heritage Foundation said what has been done so far is a complete failure at informing the public.

Carafano's comments came in an interview with Greg Corombos of Radio America/WND, and the audio of his comments is embedded here:

"Certainly if the president's goal is to get information to the American people, which is right and appropriate because it's a controversial issue, without creating political rancor, I mean he completely failed at that," he said.

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"Now we're in that weird shadowland where there's some information out but not all the information people claim needs to be out," he said.

"Right now we have the worst of all possible situations," he said.

He said a list should be compiled, then the pertinent information made available.

"Certainly all the memos Vice President Cheney has asked for," he said. He also said the government should document to whom the information already has been given and when.

Discussion about "prosecutions" are completely premature, he suggested.

According to a report in the Washington Post, five CIA directors opposed Obama's plans to release the four "top secret" memos in which Bush administration layers sanctioned the interrogations, but Obama decided to release them anyway. Critics of that move say other memos document the significance of information received from such interrogations, including information that deflected a plan to have a massive attack on Los Angeles.

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