Jameel Jaffer Discusses the Suppression of CIA Documents on "Hardball"

Jameel Jaffer, co-author of Administration of Torture: A Documentary Record from Washington to Abu Ghraib and Beyond, recently appeared on Hardball with Chris Matthews to discuss the suppression of CIA documents relating to the interrogation of prisoners at Guantánamo and elsewhere. On the program, Jaffer, who is the lead counsel for the ACLU in trying to declassify the documents, debated former Reagan Justice Department official, David Rivkin.

Jaffer argued that the ACLU and other advocates of releasing the documents are not interested in revealing information discovered during questioning of suspected terrorists but in ascertaining whether CIA officials went beyond the guidelines for “enhanced interrogation” laid out by the Bush Justice Department. Jaffer also suggested that suppressing documents because they might be used as propaganda against the United States sets a dangerous precedent.