Transparency Redacted

It looks like there's been another delay in the release of a classified 2004 report on the CIA’s interrogation and detention program. The report was supposed to be released on June 19, was delayed until June 26, and was then delayed until July 1. Then White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters that the report would not be released until this week.

For those who aren't aware of this report, it has been described as the "Holy Grail" of torture-related documents. Completed by former Inspector General John Helgerson in May 2004, it was released reluctantly and in heavily redacted form by the Bush administration in May, 2008. (click here to view the redacted version)

The Obama administration agreed to declassify the document following a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The report is based on the most comprehensive study of CIA torture practices ever completed, and is based on more than 100 interviews, a review of the videotapes, and 38,000 pages of documents.

We already know much of what's likely to be contained in the report, but it contains important information on recent claims made by former Vice President Dick Cheney. News reports have suggested that it will further contradict Cheney's claims torture of "high-value" detainees produced valuable intelligence, and saved "hundreds of thousands of lives."

Some have suggested that the delay is designed to protect the CIA from further embarrassment, rather than for reasons of national security. Whatever the reason, the CIA has now said that release of the report will be delayed (for a fourth time) until August 31. The ACLU's response makes it clear they aren't happy about the latest delay:

"It is apparent that the CIA report is not being delayed for legitimate reasons, but to cover up evidence of the agency's illegal and ineffective interrogation practices. It is time for the president to hold true to his promise of transparency and once and for all quash the forces of secrecy within the agency. The American public has a right to know the full truth about the torture that was committed in its name."

All of this is getting lost in the political theater behind CIA Director Leon Panetta's recent disclosure of an intelligence program that was hidden from Congress for eight years. Of course, we have no information on the program, because it's a secret. A former top Bush administration official (anonymously, of course) assures us that it's no "no big deal," but doesn't explain why it's been a secret since 2001. This gives plenty of room for both sides to play politics.

I must admit, the first time I heard the word "redacted," I had to look it up. But I know what "transparency" means, and this isn't it.