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"too expensive"
So, John "Torture Memo" Yu was on NPR this morning and said (I paraphrase), "By passing the law [on detainees], Congress was saying that they felt the alternative was too expensive."** Interview responded "It's just too expensive to provide habeas corpus??" and he responded "Yes, they use up the resources of our judicial system, and would be expensive to the military because of the necessity of providing witnesses etc."
Now, if he had made the argument that by "expensive" he was not speaking in monetary terms, but was more saying that the increased risk that sensitive information would become public, I could see that.
I just can't see Congress doing a monetary cost-benefit analysis. And I don't think that the GAO or that other place I can't remember the name of (it starts with an O, but all I can think of is OPEB because I'm a pension geek) did a cost analysis of the bill.
All in all, I found it amusing.
**I missed the beginning of the interview, but had been listening for a bit, and this was the point where I said to myself, yup, that is definitely John Yu.
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