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.
在就任美国总统时，巴拉克•奥巴马(Barack Obama)曾表示，对于小布什政府的虐囚问题，“我们应当向前看，既往不咎”。因此，在奥巴马任职期间，没有出现相关起诉。但过往之事总是不断生出新的波澜，向奥巴马提示其存在。美国参议院情报委员会(Senate Intelligence Committee)主席黛安娜•范斯坦(Dianne Feinstein)本周二指控美国中央情报局(CIA)，称该局阻挠她的下属对该局所谓的“强化审讯技巧”展开调查。她还指控CIA非法侵入参议院的计算机系统。范斯坦是美国情报部门的坚定捍卫者，但她此次慷慨激昂的言辞可能引发美国政府立法分支与行政分支之间的一场宪法对决。虽然双方都是民主党人，但奥巴马和范斯坦之间的分歧正变得越来越大，这非常危险。过去之事已无法掩盖。奥巴马是时候解密与CIA虐囚活动有关的所有材料了。