Thursday, July 2, 2009

Sanchez, Maddow, Warren, & Suskind Debate Torture Accountability Issue

Link TV has produced a fascinating video that has made the rounds of YouTube and other websites. The video presents an eight minute portion of a panel discussion that took place on May 31 at The Times Center on issue related to obtaining accountability for torture, featuring MSNBC commentator Rachel Maddow, Pulitzer-Prize winning author Ron Suskind, Vince Warren of the Center for Constitutional Rights, and Lt. General Ricardo Sanchez, who commanded U.S. troops in Iraq during 2003-2004. The video is part of the Culture Project's "Blueprint for Accountability" series.

Famously, Lt. Gen. Sanchez announced in the video linked here that he supported a Truth Commission to investigate what really happened around the torture issue during the Bush years. Suskind and Warren argue for the importance of prosecutions, while Rachel Maddow argues for the importance of the rule of law. Watch for how uncomfortable everyone gets when Rachel says that if the institutions cannot function, because we cannot the "redress the wrongs that were done... then we need a revolution."

The video is a remarkable discussion, and I urge my readers to follow-up and look at the larger program from which it was derived, and the other fascinating links and videos at the Link TV page at the Culture Project's "Blueprint for Accountability" webpage.

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