Senate CIA Report: Better Hindsight Than Ted Williams’ Eyesight

Ted Williams was famously said to have 20/10 eyesight.  But that is nothing compared to the hindsight of the Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

First, though, a caveat on the following comment(s): I have not read the report.  I have only read articles about it.  With that qualification, let me say this:

Some of what was done appears to have been horrible.  It may be that some of those things should not have been done.  However, I would argue that if they were that bad, then we shouldn’t have done them regardless of how effective they were.  Right and wrong does not depend on effectiveness.  If they were wrong, they were wrong.  Even if they worked. 

Saying something is wrong if it doesn’t work and right if it does is not the rule.  Because you’re never going to know for sure what works and what doesn’t work.  That is pretty clear from the report and the comments on it.  The Senate Democrats say the techniques didn’t work; others say they did.  But how bad these things were doesn’t depend on whether they worked.

Also, it is easy to say now that we shouldn’t have done what we did ten years ago.  We haven’t been attacked in thirteen-plus years.  But it didn’t have to be that way.  We could have been attacked.  If that had happened, what would those who wrote and approved this report be saying?

The only honest thing to do is to set the rules for what the CIA can and can’t do.  And then accept the consequences.  That may mean there is a greater chance of something happening.  But just because there is a greater of something happening does not mean we should do things that are wrong.

We do what’s right and accept the consequences.  I understand that and agree to that.  I hope the politicians in Washington do, too.