By Paul Reitan
Buffalo, NY – I understand that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and House Speaker Dennis Hastert are concerned -- really outraged -- about the story carried by the Washington Post that reported the existence of a string of secret prisons operated by the United States in several different foreign countries.
Frist and Hastert promptly called for a special congressional investigation into how this secret information was leaked to the press. Frist, writing about the leaked report of the secret prisons was quoted: "such an egregious disclosure could have long-term and far-reaching damaging and dangerous consequences, and will imperil our efforts to protect the American people and our homeland from terrorist attacks."
He sounds pretty upset and concerned: damage and dangerous consequences to the US might ensue -- long-term and far-reaching.
Then I asked myself: "What is it that he is so really worked up about?" It's the disclosure!
He recognizes that if people around the world find out that we have set up a string of secret prisons in foreign countries, it will be damaging and dangerous and will imperil the American people.
Everyone will know that the US has chosen to operate prisons in a way that is in blatant violation of our own laws - and that is why they had to be kept secret.
Frist is not upset about the fact of the secret prisons. He is not upset that they were kept secret. He doesn't ask why they were kept secret. He doesn't demand to know if the treatment of prisoners in the prisons is inhumane and that's why they had to be kept secret and can't be on US soil. No. None of those kinds of questions seems to have occurred to him.
But, you know, I don't really think he expects that these prisons have been models of respect for human rights. If he believed they were, he wouldn't be concerned about their disclosure. But he is very concerned about their disclosure, expressing certainty that the disclosure is apt to have long-term and far-reaching damaging and dangerous consequences for us -- the American people.
If the disclosure is that bad, how bad must the treatment of the prisoners in these secret prisons been? Well, Mr. Frist tells us: bad enough to lead to long-term, far-reaching, dangerous and damaging consequences! That's how bad.
So now I ask myself: where in this mess was the greater wrong done? Was there a greater wrong in the decision and the act to set up and operate these secret prisons, or was the greater wrong done in revealing their existence?
And if both were wrong, then both wrongs would have been avoided by never choosing to set up prisons that had to be kept secret.
Maybe whoever is responsible for the prisons should be the first target of a special congressional investigation called for by Senator Frist and speaker Hastert.
Of course, there once was a president who had a little sign on his desk that read: "the buck stops here"
Listener-commentator Paul Reitan lives in Amherst. Click the "listen" icon above to hear their piece now or use your podcasting software to download it to your computer or iPod.