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At this point and time, I can't believe what I am reading sometimes on the negativity of some people on the disclosure of the Interrogation Documents. We as Americans are about the only people on earth that follow the humane process of treatment and punishment on our prisoners of Terror, and or of War. We do not show decaptations of prisoners or of inhumane treatment of our prisoners. Yes, there are some that crossed the thin lines of some of the interrogation techniques, but they were dealt with accordingly, and it wasn't that severe that the prisoners died of such treatment. Please let the professionals do their jobs and let us stick with the business that we are suppose to be doing. Like the old saying goes. Mind your own business. The Interrogators that were doing their jobs should be commended, instead of being repremanded, and along with all of the people above them that gave them the authority to do so in the first place. I am a firm believer that a job should be conducted to the best of your abilities and if you succeed then you know in your heart that you did the best you can and succeeded in doing so. And that is defeat the ENEMY in everyway possible, even if you know that you might be jeopardizing your own life, and protecting the lives of others, but mostly that it will keep FREEDOM in our country for all of our fellow citizens. GOD bless those that do the work that some people do not have the heart to do. " Life has a special flavor that the protected will never know." " De Oppreso Liber! "

Are we a nation of laws or what?

I was once a public official and there was never any suggestion that if I broke the law I would not be held accountable by our legal system.

What do you mean, Sec Gates, that the US can't keep Top Secret information locked up?

If he was concerned about backlash maybe that's a good indication that we shouldn't have tortured people.

We probably saved a lot of taxpayer money by just releasing these memos, instead of endless government hearings when they would come out anyway.

I bet he is reluctant. We, the People, demand to know what horrors were done in our name by the Bush/Cheney administration.

Release ALL documents, SO that we know. Our Nation IS diminished, tarnished by these war crimes.

America has long stood for Freedom and Justice, when we defy our Constitution and the Geneva Convention we fought hard to legalize, we are hurting our Democracy!

What about the soldiers in Abu Ghraib prison? Do these memos not prove that they were doing their jobs? Doing what was called LEGAL?

How could they be prosecuted and called "bad apples" while this proves they were acting one orders?

Now we are faced with a problem, what to do with individuals who were following the legal advice and policies of the central government. After all they were following orders right? Part of my oath of office was , " to support and degend the Consitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic", and to "obey the "lawful" orders of those appointed over me." Now is where we have the prolblem, lawful orders, the president has been set, individuals are expected not to follow orders/policies that are not lawful regardless of who gives them. THis was established as no defense during the trials after WWII. What to do..........does create a slight problem do you not think.

Finally, a sensible Republican decision without all the fiery rhetoric. Now if we can get only some of those outside the Cabinet to act and speak responsibly.......?

Gates! Wants the Door Opened. So do it or lose, even more Security.
You need this guy. you don't need Obama..

I support the CIA officials. CIA did nothing wrong in waterboarding al Qaeda suspects.

When terrorists kill innocent is that not torture? All the people who are against the CIA, need to also know about the torture techniques of the terrorists.

Terrorist torture children, women and even elderly by piercing into their eyes, dousing children in Acid. Have we forgotten the 8 years old boy from Iraq who was doused in Acid in Iraq and came to US for plastic surgery. Terrorist even dismember the limbs and torture people to death.

Terrorists are ruthless, merciless and barbaric animals.

There is a saying “to prevent a greater harm, it is ok to inflict a minor harm”.

Waterboarding does not cause any disability on the person who is waterboared, but it helps to get information about the terrorists who can cause great harm, like the 9/11.

They were never concerned about Valarie Plames protection so why such concern now.

Sec Gates,

We are not looking here to punish the worker bees, are we? The basic fact is that the highest orders of our government authorized what they knew was illegal behaviors. The carrying out of torture harms our national psyche, was not necessary, and opens our troops and other citizens to the same irrational and animalistic treatment.

With what the previous administration approved-ordered?-who could blame our "enemies" for not showing an ounce of mercy, or even civility?

Why doe republicans like boehner and cantor and thrush limpaugh think it's ok for the US to torture but it's not ok if it's done to us?

Gates you should have stood like a tall oak tree and halted this.

wow just summed up Bushes legacy

So smart of President Obama to have a Republican in his cabinet ... particularly one that served under George Bush ..... in the role of Secretary of Defense with a background as the leader of the CIA.

This mutes so much of the partisan NONSENSE that would be coming from Republicans if they thought they could get away with it.

Who is the next Republican to join the team?

Defense Secretary Robert Gates Thursday reluctantly supported the release of the government documents regarding interrogation techniques. You did the right thing, too many lies and cover up in the President and Cheney days

I wonder how much longer Gates can stand working with this bunch of socialists?

are you not releasing the memos that show how many 9/11's were stopped because of the interrogations? And how many American lives were saved? Is there some bias here?

It doesn't really matter anyway since Obama said he's not supporting a prosecution and will veto any attempt at it-so I guess Pelosi and Reid lose again with the rest of the radical left. Love it.

Let the chips fall where they may. Cheney's arrogance has shown he has no remorse for his war crimes. If they were so worried about protecting the american people why did they not stay out of a war. And actually build up and protect or borders, airways, and infrastructure.

Just think what all that money spent in Iraq could have done here at home on our on streets. A terrorists bullet or a gang bangers bullet "Dead is Dead". priorities people.

Now even Gates, a staunch Bush hold-over, realises the cat is out the bag re: the past torture techniques. This my friends is the result of an adminstration that failed the American people. after 911, the world was with us and we knew where the killers were based from. Clinton admin told Bush admin to guard against attack of Bin laden/Al Qeada in U.S. It soon became clear that Bush in trying to establish a link btwn AL Qeada and Iraq, in response to 911 attack, allowed his top hawks to torture suspects in the name of the American people. Such that 7+ yrs later the following is happening: we havent found the killers, we cant garner support militarily from the world–even though the world is in danger from extremist attack based in AFPAK area, there was no WMD's, torture bacame a training tool to recriut AL Qeada, We spent hundreds of billions in Iraq war that cost thousands of U.S., and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives, Obama admin has to finish job with a rapidly growing Al qeada based in Pakistan, new Obama admin might be weakened by sins of the past i.e.–country now has to deal with trials, media scrutiny, further divisiveness of country and congress–crippling his ability to move country forward re: stimulus, recovery, jobs, green economy..., China's covertly supplanting U.S. interests abroad, and our cyber-sovereignty... All these issues exist because of the weakened position the U.S. is in and was left in by the Bush admin. I dont want to bash Bush, I'm just calling the facts as everybody sees it. We should never again elect a leader that we want to drink a beer with?

The truth needs to come out so the people can debate right from wrong. Also, this idea that we "Should look forward" and not prosecute people who broke the law is just another form of the "Good ol boy network". If government officials had to face the consequences of their actions, maybe they would do a little more risk analysis and a little less "what ever I want".

Also, on the debate of torchering human beings, no one mentions the impact doing this would have on the torcherer. You would have to be a homicidal maniac for this to not impact you the rest of your life. Easy for the chicken hawks to have someone else sacrifice their mental health so they can have a false sense of security.

The truth shall set you free...

The chilling effect from all of this will be profound. CIA and DIA personnel will dial back on their jobs, and DOJ and exec. branch counsel will disclaim any advice that is not "well settled" legal doctrine (and if it was well settled, you would not ask the lawyers).

The pandora's box that Leahy wants to open may well come back to bit him and his party in the buttocks region. And it further signifies that the Culture War is going from a cold war to a hot one faster than I ever anticipated.

PROBLEM--REPUBLICANS have always stood for "THE RULE OF LAW--they now lay down an accept torture under their watch .
THE LAW=THE RULE OF LAW
LAW BREAKING=EQUALS A PENALTY
THESE ARE THE SAME GUYS WHO TRIED BILL CLINTON FOR A SEX LIE, AND NOW THEY CLAIM TO LOVE THE COUNTRY WHILE FIGHTING A DISCLOSURE OF "IF AND WHEN IT'S LAWS WERE BROKEN.
WILL THE PEBUBLICAN PARTY PICK FOR IT'S SELF, "THE PARTY ABOVE THE LAW? COME ON GUYS, I KNOW YOU WANT TO GET BACK INTO POWER, BUT SHOULD THAT FOUNDATION OF RETURN BE THAT YOU "UP HOLD THE LAWS OF THE LAND, AND THAT IF Obama, Bush, Cheney or whom ever break them, atleast you recognize what millions of our brave men and women have died for over the years. This is a silly season in our country, when both parties cannot be counted on to up-hold the laws of our land. THINK ABOUT THIS PLEASE, THE LAW MAKERS, ARE WILLING TO BECOME LAWBREAKERS TO TRY AND WIN THE NEXT ELECTION. Shame, shame in America. DO THE RIGHT THING , BECAUSE WE THE PEOPLE REQUIRE IT OF YOU.

This country can't accuse Saddam of torture and then turn around and do the same thing. The world is angry with us about that and that is the whole problem that makes us look like traitors and liars.

There are reports coming out that the torture was authorized in an effort by the Bush administration to link Saddam to al quaeda. They wanted confessions to link Saddam to the 9/11 attacks to increase support for the war and they didn't care how it was done. It was a political problem for the WH at the time and this was their desperate attempt to justify the decision to invade Iraq. It's just guessing to say that torture prevented another attack on the US. But while we wasted all of our money and resources, not to mention the lives of soldiers, in a false war in Iraq, al quaeda was regrouping and is now strong again. If the torturing of prisoners was actually helpful, al quaeda would be on the run instead of making inroads into Pakistan.

Thank you, Secretary Gates. It's a hard thing to swallow, but the truth must come out. Wrong is wrong, and the only way to fix it is to lay it out in the open, cause the coverup will only make things worse.

Think Catholic Church, and their coverup for priests who did bad things to kids... the coverup only made it worse.

Is it my imagination...

...or are the Bush-Cheney Republicans...

...who to a man stated unequivocally, "America doesn't torture!"

...NOW defend themselves by putting out the talking points...

..."The Obama administration should release the documents that show how successful their TORTURE techniques were!"

...The efficacy of torture is NOT at issue...

...TORTURE is ILLEGAL...

...ERGO, the Bush-Cheneyites have basically PUBLICly confessed!

...OFF with their heads!

Let's see here. CIA agents commit crimes against humanity and are let off because their leaders said it was legal.

Ivan Demjanjuk is being deported to stand trial for, you guessed it, crimes against humanity that his leaders said were legal.

My hypocrisy meter just pegged...

By all means release the memos Chaney claims to prove torture works.
To claim that they exist is one thing, but that does not mean they exist.

If they release all the memos including the ones showing Nancy Pelosi et al asking whether "waterboarding" was harsh enough and also the documents indicating how the outcome of the process kept an attack on Los Angeles from occurring, then I'm all for it.

What is terrifying however is the bias and deliberate selectivity of what the Obama administration is presenting.

Like it or not, the United States did not have to face a second 9/11 and that was largely because George Bush like Harry Truman loved his country enough to draw a line in the sand.

I didn't agree with a lot of President Bush's policies but I sure felt a lot safer under his administration.

Gates has no choice. He knows that what Barack is doing is wrong but can't do anything about it.

Another honest man and I agree with his concern about protecting those that carried out the orders. The ones that made the decisions should be held accountable. Good decision Mr. Gates!

Kevin B April 23rd, 2009 12:23 pm ET
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Anyone in the previous administration that has to defend the tactics of waterboarding or "harsh" interagations, should be left to defend them.

I would not want to be in a position of defending any of these tactics. Mr Obama is correct in asserting that this approach goes against our ideals as a nation.

The minute we went into these type of tactics along with the fear agenda pushed by the previous administration, we gave al queada way much more juice than we should have and also lost the moral high ground abroad.

In a nut shell the results rendered were not worth it. We are a smart and more courageous nation, but we were served by small minded leaders who took advantage of 9/11, and played to the worst of our traditions for short term political gain.

Another black eye given to us by Bush and team.

Well maybe he should have been concerned about the 5 American soldiers who were considered "bad apples" and jailed over torture at Abu Graib. The real criminals are Cheney, Rice & Co.

I agree totaly with gates and we need to really put this behind us.

Good grief. This is not a good time to reveal what our country is willing to do – and not do- to people who try to plot our murder. Along with the release of this top secret info, could we hear if any of the suffering resulted in the protection of innocent would-be victims. Didn't I hear something about a CA city attack being thwarted? Is the main-stream media asleep, or simply mesmerized? No wonder newspapers are going under. Constantly hearing only part of the story isn't just poor journalism, it's a BORE!

Releasing the torture memos are good start to reconciling the U.S. image. You cannot be a world leader of human rights and expect countries to follow your lead when you're violating human rights. Prosecuting people for water boarding is not in our best interest, because it wasn't rouge operators doing this without sanction. The top members of the Bush administration knew what was going and allowed it. In the cases of the soldiers prosecuted for their role in Abu Graib, they should be released and their criminal records expunged, since the Bush administration threw them under the bus to cover up for sanctioned torture interrogation methods. Nice how the GOP says support the troops, but throw them under the bus when convenient to protect senior officials wrong doing. Nice Support!

This is going to be a witch hunt! Dems in congress signed off on the memo that authorized the particular type of interrogation techniques. I guess we should investigate the Dems too!!!

Give me a break! The american people know what this is about. It is pure politics and power grabbing at any expense.

So he struggled just like our president did. Wonder if the Republicans will throw Gates under the bus??

Just because Rice & Cheney had agree with the military that water boarding of the detainees; there can not be any charges of criminal activity brought up against them, because they only agreed with those whom are at fault or should be charged.

Shame on to the Bush Administration for putting us on our knees, economically, physically and psycholigically. I don't even know if Bin Laden would have done that much damage to us. Who's a terrorist now?

Bush, Cheney & Rice should all be indicted on crimes against humanity. Bush should be jailed. All these torture tactics and round-ups were compensatory actions for his failure to capture and bring Bin Laden to trial. No, instead he starts a war with Iraq for no good reason other than his family name and having Cheney's cronies profiteer from the oil. Obama needs show some back bone and bring these outlaws to justice.

They should be released. If the agents were forced to do torture or face
diciplinary action, they should not be held accountable. The ones on the top that initiated and ordered this torture should pay. No one is above the law. Not Bush, not Chenny, not, Rumsfeld, nor Rice or anyone else. No wonder the world can't trust us.

Gates is right, the information was going to come out any way. It's better for us to put it out there than for a reporter or foreign entity. We were wrong for voting for GW Bush. He ruined our country's name and spat on the Constitution. It will never happen again.

I'm so glad President Obama is changing the policies. Bush was a joke and we will NEVER vote for another Republican in my family.

Better to be honest our front than to be caught in a lie in the back. The lie is worse.

Add this guy to the long list of military people who would have told five diferemnet Dick and Awol W not to toture in the first place.

So do you also support releasing the memos describing the detailed information obtained from the enhanced interrogation techniques, Mr Gates?

If we're going to have an OPEN DISCUSSION involving the release of classified information.. let's get it ALL on the table!

For all those Christians who oppose the release of this information, please consider that this 'truth will make us free(r)' just as spiritual truth will make us free. Torture it torture. And torture is not part of the American fabric. If we let it become so, we will decay from within.

But hey, the torture did help us end two wars...oh wait...ok, but we caught Osama Bin Laden because of them...oh wait. Well, atleast no more bombings ever took place during their practice...hold on, bombings around the world continued at an increased pace while they were in affect actually. Ok, but we eradicated al qaeda with them..oh...wait they are as strong as ever now.

Uh...now, what did they actually do again? Nothing that I can see.

But in regards to what Gates stance is: Agreed.

Prosecute every single person that authorized the torture, regardless of how high up they were. But those who were following orders are not to blame. They too were victims of a corrupt, demonic and morally bankrupt administration.

tough spot Gates. God bless you and your family. Good temper. Cool and reasonable

No, this could not have been kept a secret.
No, the CIA personel who were operating under good faith should not be held accountable.
No, it is never ok to torture. No matter what. If you are willing to look the other way when it comes to our values, then they are not really our values.
Yes. Those at Justice and in the Administration who conceived these techniques should be tried. If found guilty they should be imprisoned.
"We do not torture" was a lie told by our former President. Plain and simple. We did.
The truth will out and heads should roll.

Considering the Valerie Plame outing, this newfound Republican concern over the identity of CIA agents seems a bit contrived.

Obviously we don't care about the backlash against our soilders. Politic gain is more important than even innocent lives for some..

Redact the names of the agents but release the entire memo, not just the parts that paint a dark picture of the methods used. What did we learn?

Until Obama does this, he is doing this ONLY for political ends.

Hmm ... Where was his conscience when it was needed the most? I do admire his concern for his CIA officers though.

No one wants to prosecute the CIA grunts just doing their jobs, Gates, it is the "decider" and crew that should be investigated.

The "decider" is the one that had the Justice department bend the rules into a pretzel so that the "decider's" butt would be covered.

Forgetting of course, the "decider's" number one job is to uphold the Constitution!

I think everyone should real Ed Rollins article on CNN today....
I think it was right to release the memo...but i have my reservations about prosecution...because really ...do you think the ones really responsible will be the ones prosecuted..doubtful..it will be a scapegoat. With that said..we should move on..we know what should and shouldn't be done for the future....