Ann Curry Prods Chris Dodd to Bash Bush on Torture

On to promote his new book, "Letters From Nuremberg," about his father's experiences at the Nuremberg trials Democratic Senator and presidential candidate Chris Dodd, prompted by NBC "Today" co-host Ann Curry, accused the Bush administration of supporting torture at Guantanamo Bay on Tuesday's "Today" show.

After Curry spoke to the senator about the book and the trial of Nazis after World War II, she pushed Dodd to contrast the fairness of the Nuremberg trials compared to the Bush administration's support of "tortures" at Guantanamo Bay. The following exchange occurred on the September 18 "Today" show:

Ann Curry: "In one letter your father writes about the trial, 'Some day it will be recognized as a great landmark in the struggle of mankind for peace. Some day the boys will point to it, I hope,' you being one of those boys, 'to be proud and inspired by,' clearly you are inspired and proud. However you also write, in this, in the lead into this book, 'If for 60 years a single word, Nuremberg, best captured America's moral authority and commitment to justice, unfortunately another word now captures the loss of such authority and commitment, Guantanamo.' Are you saying that the Geneva Conventions, as reinterpreted by the Bush administration, represents a loss of America's moral authority in the world?"

Sen. Chris Dodd: "I think it does and that Colin Powell made the same point in many ways. We're, this was a remarkable event at Nuremberg. We stood up for the rule of law. Churchill wanted to summarily execute the defendants at Nuremberg, the Soviets did as well. But Jackson, Henry Stimson, a few others, my father included, said, 'No let's give them a trial. Let's prove the, the difference, the civility of people who believe in the rule of law. And today, in a sense, when you do away with habeas corpus, restore tortures as means of collecting information, walk away from the Geneva Conventions, calling it sort of an antiquated idea, then it's retreating from the very high ground that Nuremberg represented at the end of World War II. We talk about the greatest generation winning that war. That greatest generation also understood the value of justice and the principles upon which this country was founded. We're retreating from those values today. That's why this book has relevancy, not just as history, but also the lessons it teaches our generation."

Curry: "Senator Chris Dodd, a man running for President of the United States and also the son of Tom. Thank you so much. A pleasure to speak to you. Best to you."