Letters: No amnesty for CIA torturers
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Re “Declassify, debate, move on,” Opinion, April 11
Jeffrey H. Smith, a former CIA general counsel, predictably thinks that agency officers who conducted waterboarding and other acts of torture should not be prosecuted for “activities that were properly authorized and executed.”
Those in the Bush administration and the CIA who authorized and carried out torture and other illegal acts should not hide behind dubious “legal” opinions written by people who knew or should have known the actions were illegal under U.S. and international law.
Yes, declassify all, not just part, of the Senate’s report on the CIA’s rendition, detention and interrogation programs. But let’s not then just “move on.” Those responsible should be criminally prosecuted to deter future acts inconsistent with what we ought to stand for as a nation.
Dennis McIntyre
Rancho Palos Verdes
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