On reaching office, US President Barack Obama said “we need to look forwards not backwards” on the Bush administration’s torture programme. As a result, there have been no prosecutions on his watch. But the past keeps reaching back to grab him. On Tuesday Dianne Feinstein, chair of the Senate intelligence committee and a stalwart defender of America’s spies, accused the Central Intelligence Agency of blocking her staff’s investigations into its so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques”. She also accused it of illegally breaking into Senate computer systems. Ms Feinstein’s impassioned speech risks a constitutional showdown between America’s first branch of government and the executive. Although both are Democrats, the breach between Mr Obama and Ms Feinstein is getting dangerously wide. The past can no longer be kept under wraps. It is time for Mr Obama to declassify all material related to the CIA’s torture programme.
在就任美國總統時，巴拉克•歐巴馬(Barack Obama)曾表示，對於小布什政府的虐囚問題，「我們應當向前看，既往不咎」。因此，在歐巴馬任職期間，沒有出現相關起訴。但過往之事總是不斷生出新的波瀾，向歐巴馬提示其存在。美國參議院情報委員會(Senate Intelligence Committee)主席黛安娜•范斯坦(Dianne Feinstein)本週二指控美國中央情報局(CIA)，稱該局阻撓她的下屬對該局所謂的「強化審訊技巧」展開調查。她還指控CIA非法侵入參議院的電腦系統。范斯坦是美國諜報機構的堅定捍衛者，但她此次慷慨激昂的言辭可能引發美國政府立法分支與行政分支之間的一場憲法對決。雖然雙方都是民主黨人，但歐巴馬和范斯坦之間的分歧正變得越來越大，這非常危險。過去之事已無法掩蓋。歐巴馬是時候解密與CIA虐囚活動有關的所有材料了。