Reveal and expose.....

The authorization of torture by the Bush-Cheney administration should be investigated by an independent authority of impeccable reputation and then fully revealed to the country and the world. It appears to be a shameful story which was planned from the offices of the highest officials in the White House.

After the smug self-righteousness of Rove-Rumsfeld-Cheney and yes, often even Bush himself, clear violations of ethical and legal standards by them should be exposed, and the extent to which these individuals were responsible for these violations of human decency should be part of the historical record.

This morning I was listening to Jonathan Meachem discuss this on 'Morning Joe,' and Meachem quoted Arthur Schlesinger as having said that recording history helps a people identify and understand their life as does our individual memory. The record of history is our national memory, and in that sense whatever has taken place in the story of the 'War on Terror' should be known and recorded.

The catastrophic events of September 11 caused reactions in the White House and throughout the nation, and in each of us, that brought up the dimensions of a new and terrible reality to our shores and caused all kinds of reactions. No president or administration could be prepared to be confronted by such an event and all the unknown factors of that day. Was this the beginning of a whole series of attacks which would immediately become apparent? We can sympathize with fallible human beings feeling the weight of the responsibility of guiding the nation in such a circumstance. We can understand all of this but that must be balanced against our values and laws as a nation. Leaders in our government held the burden of a proper and effective response to this horrible new dimension of our collective life. The reaction of our leaders was to take us into war with a country they insisted had caused 9/11, and it turned out they lied.

All of the details of this history need to be known and understood, and if criminal acts were committed they should also be part of the record. The complications facing President Obama is how to react to this and how far to go if in fact there was criminal behavior in the White House. With everything facing his administration and the Congress, huge trials, or, perish the thought impeachments would paralyze the country and make even worse the partisanship which is epidemic in the way our politics work.

All of this faces each of us as citizens as well as our leaders. What kind of nation are we, what does our Constitution mean in our common life, where will and should all of this lead us as a people? Whatever the answer is, the facts should be known.