The Star Press from Muncie, Indiana • Page 5

Editorial Board Gene Williams General Manager and Executive Editor Lisa Nellessen-Lara Managing Editor Kathleen Scott Community Conversation Editor Jeff Ward Steve Lam Ron Dauoherty John S. Bailey, community member OTheStarPress I Founded 1899 PINIONS MONDAY August 31, 2009 E-mail: kscottmuncie.gannett.com Page designer: Danielle Aber, 213-5856 :WWW.THESTARPRESS.COM: 4 l' 'u XT. l7rPfrDinTirtM A-Dmiiz-iMn UrMTu rioc vktt 6 Public letter box RedBlueAmerica Should CIA agents who tortured suspects be investigated? By JOEL MATHIS and BEN BOYCHUK Scripps Howard News Service Attorney General Eric Holder says his department will investigate CIA agents accused of torturing terror suspects after 911. Is that the right decision? Holder's announcement was accompanied by the release of a 2004 CIA inspector general's report showing that "high-value detainees" were waterboarded, treated to mock executions and threatened with harm to their families. Critics say such treatment broke the law; defenders (like former Vice President Dick Cheney) say agents helped protect America from terror attacks.

Is Holder's investigation going too far? Or not far enough? Joel Mathis and Ben Boychuk, the RedBlueAmerica columnists, debate the issue. JOEL MATHIS: If Republicans like Dick Cheney had their way, there would be no law that CIA agents or their White House bosses couldn't break in the name of national security. Eric Holder isn't going after officials, such as Cheney, who authorized the "enhanced interrogation methods" that probably broke domestic and international laws against torture. Holder isn't even going after very many agents who participated in the interrogation program. Instead, he's going after the agents who went way too far the ones who broke the Bush administration's already-expansive rules about what constituted torture.

The result? We know that some detainees died in custody, and that others suffered mightily. There will be few tears shed, of course; most of these men were terrorists. But our treatment of them is a stain on the national honor. What Cheney is saying is that even the agents who broke Bush administration rules "deserve our gratitude" and shouldn't be prosecuted. But if CIA agents shouldn't be held accountable for breaking the laws, orders and legal guidance set out by Congress and the White House, how can America possibly put limits on the actions of its agents? And how can we trust our government not to misuse that awful power? We can't.

The truth is that Holder's investigation doesn't go far enough. It risks scapegoating lower-level CIA employees who were carrying out orders, while Cheney and others who gave those orders face no consequences. That's unfair and unfortunate. But Cheney and his fellow Republicans are suggesting that utter lawlessness is acceptable in the name of defeating terrorists. It's not.

BEN BOYCHUK: President Obama and his attorney general are playing a risky political game with the nation's security. Without question, a few CIA interrogators went way over the line with some terrorist detainees particularly with waterboarding. But the inspector general's report is not the locus horribilis that so many have made it out to be. The report points out how the CIA "invested immense time and effort to implement the (program) quickly, effectively, and within the law" and that the agency "generally provided good guidance and support." What's more, CIA personnel largely "followed guidance and procedures and documented their activities well." The report's conclusions led career Justice Department employees to clear interrogators of criminal wrongdoing years ago. The report also underscores how the CIA kept Congress apprised of its activities.

Anyone who questions whether Obama is playing cynical politics with the CIA need only read the statement from the unnamed administration staffer reported in The Washington Post on Aug. 26. "This is not something the White House allowed," the staffer said, referring to the appointment of a special prosecutor. "This was something the (attorney general) decided." That doesn't pass the laugh test. Other cruel ironies abound.

Fact is, even as the Obama administration seeks "accountability" for past alleged abuses, it continues key Bush-era anti-terror policies up to and including the highly controversial practice of nabbing terrorist suspects known as rendition. But clearly Obama and his attorney general need to collect the scalps of somebody anybody to show they've kept faith with their political base. If the result is to further undermine America's already diminished human intelligence capabilities, well, hey, that's politics for you. Unless, of course, America is attacked again. Then the burden and the blame fall squarely on Barack Obama.

Ben Boychuk and Joel Mathis blog at http:www.mfi-nitemonkeysblog.com and http:politics.pwblogs.com. the limited resources of so many, when all avenues have yet to be explored, is indefensible, but sadly, predictable. Please, urge your city council person to vote no on LOIT. Our Maginot Line J.F. BROWN Winchester The protests elected officials in Washington are experiencing against a government health-care program is not just about health care.

It is about our government rushing us into socialism at break neck speed. Our frustrations and fears of our government are growing because of bailouts for banks, insurance companies, the auto industry, federal deficits, president's czars, stimulus spending used as paybacks to political supporters, high unemployment rates that will stay high for years due to this administration's failed policies. The French built the Maginot Line in the late '30s as their last line of defense against the German Socialist Party. It failed quickly under the blitzkrieg that came to pass. These town hall meetings with our elected officials are our Maginot Line, our last offense attempting to halt the socialist agenda and the power grab of our individual liberties.

We fought the socialists in WWII and we fought the socialists in a long Cold War. We won both, but at great expense. Should their proposed government health care be implemented, even incrementally, along with Cap and Trade, Card Check and soon amnesty for illegal immigrants, we are forever socialists. This is clearly tyranny. Frustration is turning to anger and the anger will turn to rage.

R.I.P. GOP BILL GROBEY Muncie Your party is in shambles. You are resorting to propaganda, deceit and fear in your attempts to thwart every effort being made to straighten out the mess you left our country in. Your voices come from the likes of Limbaugh, Beck, O'Reilly and Palin. This group championed "living wills" and "end-of-life care" just a few months ago.

Today they are giving these same concepts labels like "death panels" and "euthanasia." They vilify our elected president by calling him a racist, comparing him to Hitler and wishing for his death. Instead of debating the issues like health care reform, they obscure the facts with talk of birth certificates, Nazis and socialism. Your leaders stand 'Junk lawsuits' JULIA' K. GOUVEIA Munxie Mitch McConnell calls them "junk lawsuits;" Mike Pence calls them "run-away jury awards." Either way, GOPers pin colossal hopes for health-care reform on the bugaboo, tort reform. Four of 10 medical malpractice cases are groundless, thus dismissed in court (The Star Press, May 11, 2006).

That means six of 10 involve plaintiffs, lives unalterably changed, who deserve an opportunity to be made whole. According to The Institute of Medicine, between 44,000 and 98,000 Americans die yearly of avoidable errors; yet fewer than 11,000 were compensated in 2008, down from 15,000 in 1999. The National Practitioner Data Bank found the average U.S. malpractice payment for 2008 was $326,000, "the smallest on record" hardly a "run-away-jury" award. Eighty percent of that money went to those with significant permanent injuries such as quadriple-gia and brain damage, needing health care the remainder of their lives and having enormous medical expenses.

Medicare's administrator told Congress in 2005 that malpractice litigation accounts for only 0.6 percent of U.S. healthcare costs, and medical liability accounts for less than one percent of the country's health-care costs with "the vast majority of victims receiving no compensation whatsoever." Recently, Americans for Insurance Reform found medical malpractice premiums amount to 12 of one percent of health care costs and medical malpractice claims, 15 of one percent of health-care costs. Tort reform, without a public option to compete with for-profit private insurers, is a toothless GOP health-care-reform component. Against LOIT DEBORAH KING-EICHHOLZ Muncie The debate goes on between elected officials and the citizenry: Will the Muncie City Council rise to the challenge of managing, or will they act to raise our taxes? For a fact, their constituents have already done what the Muncie City Council has yet been unable or unwilling to do, particularly in these uncertain and troubled times. To stretch by and say nothing to dispute the fabrications coming from these shills.

These actions are not only misguided and counterproductive, they are unpatriotic. Your party has lost its way. You fly banners proclaiming your morality. You talk of family values and faith. You denounce abortion, regardless of the circumstances.

And yet, you turn your backs on millions of Americans who have a dire need for health care. Jesus once said that all men would be judged by how they treat those less fortunate. How are you doing on that one, Mr. GOP? Carefully orchestrated LES MARSH Muncie Visionary Republicans saw it coming. Congressmen returning home during the August recess would get an ear full, vis-a-vis health care, from constituents.

At Democrat town hall meetings, there is a lot of noise from people hijacking the process. The opposition shouts down anyone asking a legitimate question. They are also using everything from physical intimidation to' death-threat phone calls to lawmakers their idea of the American way. Most of these people are being organized and funded by right-wing shadow groups shilling for the insurance industry. The GOP is sticking to their story.

It is grass-roots America spontaneously voicing disapproval. What is so bemusing is they are saying it with a straight face. These "grassroots Americans" are being bussed, fed and possibly paid by Patients United, a front group for big insurance. The "how to stop honest discourse" script is courtesy of Freedom Works, a lobbying firm operated by former Republican congressman Dick Armey. Other disingenuous information is funded by various right-wing groups including the always honest swift boaters.

This is a carefully orchestrated opus with the health-care industry playing the music to the tune of $1.4 million a day. I understand why this kind of money is being spent to maintain obscene profits. What isn't clear is how people can be duped so easily? Merely saying socialism seems enough for some. Sadly, for some it has nothing to do with health care. It is about pigmentation.

It is just that simple, and the GOP is giving tacit approval. More the pity. Letters policy Anyone wishing to submit a guest column should contact Community Conversation Editor Kathleen Scott at 213-5847 or kscottmuncie.gannett.com in advance as space is extremely limited. Writers should have an expertise in the particular area of discussion, must stick to a single topic and offer a unique insight or solution. Guest columns should be 650 words or less and are subject to editinq.

Please include a one-line biography of the writer and a photo if possible. By submitting a letter, the writer grants The Star Press the right to publish, distribute, archive or use it in print, online or other format. Letters must be 250 words or less and will be edited for length, grammar, accuracy and clarity. Letters containing private solicitations; personal attacks; unfair criticism of private individuals, businesses or organizations; poetry, or inappropriate language will not be used. Letters of more than 250 words may be rejected.

Scripture All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. Genesis 7:22 Letters to the Public Letter Box can be sent from our Web site at www.thestarpress.com (click on Opinion) or directly to lettersmuncie.qannett.com; Public Letter Box, The Star Press, P.O. Box 2408, Muncie IN 47307 0408; or fax (765) 213-5858. You must include your name, address and a telephone number for verification. Letters that cannot be verified will not be used.

HOT TOPIC I Star Press Story Chats The never-ending goodbye Go to www.thestarpress.com to join in the discussions. Weekend results Results as of 0: Which name do you prefer for Muncie's newest school? 3:30 p.m. William Kemper Harreld 2.9 Emily Kimbrough 15.0 George R. Dale 2.1 East Tota votes: Washington Academy 20.0 East View Excel Academy 11.0 None of these 49.0 TODAY'S POLL QUESTION 0: Do you want the federal government to offer health insurance in competition with the private sector? iv if i 'dl it ft 1 rt 1 1 I ri tBtll'Jiktft li 8 7)8 i 8w inl IJ lift Of till lliil lit Br jy niTTI frlfffflf ll'lit rlfrJVIilVifNi -rf Tf 'TrtsJEMll'I'TtTBlii illfclltUI II 111 III 13.