December 05, 2014 01:39 PM UTC

Mark Udall talks tough on torture, but has even better reason to act tough

• 1 Comments
• by: Zappatero

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

Come on, Mark. Do what's right. With no hesitation. Without dithering.

Scott Raab: Your loss is seen as symbolic of the midterm sea change. How does it feel?

Mark Udall: It stings and I feel liberated. . . . I don’t like losing. I don’t like being turned back from the summit of a mountain—I’m a mountain climber—but I have always found that the mountains I didn’t climb (that sounds stupid. Did he mean "summit"? -z) are the ones that taught me the most. So I’m taking that attitude towards this election loss. . . . But it’s been hard to be here for the last couple of weeks. When you get fired, usually it’s “Clean your desk out and go,” and I’ve got two months of work left to do. We do have some things I’m working hard to get accomplished. I want to get the CIA Torture Report declassified.

SR: I’ve been puzzling through this. You’ve talked about how Edward Snowden should come back.

MU: Yep.

SR: But he’s gonna be charged with crimes that could put him behind bars forever. And you’re in a position to read this into the public record.

MU: Sure. Yeah.

SR: Is there any reason not to do that? Not do what Mike Gravel did with the Pentagon Papers? What is the tightrope there? You got a $40 million 6,300-page report, right?

MU: Yes.

SR: And all the pressure’s on you right now to—

MU: I have made it clear over the last couple of weeks—if the report is not declassified in a way that’s transparent and shines a bright light on what we did, then I will consider using all and any options.

SR: I’ve heard this before.

MU: And right now, we are at the point where I’m still optimistic that the White House, working with a committee, is going to do the right thing, which is to declassify the report in a way that’s understandable and transparent. And so I’m working through what we call regular order here in Washington. But if, in my opinion, the report is either—obviously, if it’s not released, then I’m gonna use every power I have, because it’s too important. It’s too historic. And we can’t afford to repeat the mistakes to let this slide.

. . . .

SR: So you don’t just have the report, you have an agency that hacked the committee’s computers.

MU: Right. Four times. Four times.

SR: You called for CIA director John Brennan’s resignation.

(He didn't resign. -z)

MU: There are some that would like this report never to see the light of day. There are some that are running out the clock. There are some that are raising the specter that the CIA employees involved would somehow be subject to not only threats but potential action that would affect their personal safety. Those personnel, if they have that worry, can be given some legitimate security. . . .

MU: The people who conducted these activities in the name of the CIA, in the name of the American people, have a right to be processed. They don’t have a right to [pause] push under the rug what happened.

He agreed to the interview. He knew it was momentous. He's playing cutesy with the report. He knows what we don't – and what we should. He wants to take into account the full and fair views of both sides, but are there really two sides to our torturous actions taken after the attacks of 9/11?

Will he still be the Bipartisan, Establishment player that all DC desires, or will Mark Udall finally do the right thing?