One of the big pluses of the Democratic takeover of Congress in the 2006 elections was the promise to open investigations into all the 9-11 related "horrors" of the Bush Administration. One of the most repugnant of these "horrors" was the revelations about the use of torture by the CIA and the US Army against suspected terrorists through secret detention centers around the globe and, of course, at Abu Graib prison and Guantanamo in direct violation of the Geneva Conventions and our own long adherence to the highest standards of justice and human rights. One hoped that in 2007 congressional hearings would be set up to show that the so-called internal "probes" conducted by the Bushites about what happened and who was culpable for what -- in the Army, the CIA, the Defense Department and the White House -- were limited and superficial -- and then would use subpoenas and investigative tools to explore what really occurred and who was involved. But what happened? The issue of "torture" has seemingly disappeared from the congressional agenda -- at least so far. It is time for Democratic leaders to resurrect it and finally let the American people know whom in the Bush government did what and when.
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