While discussing the possible prosecution of Bush administration officials over interrogation methods used against terror suspects, on Thursday’s CBS Early Show, co-host Harry Smith asked Senator John McCain: "You fought a long battle with the [Bush] White House over this issue, said they ought to follow the Army manual, which the -- the White House refused to...Why do you feel so strongly that those who helped create this policy should not face some sort of recrimination?"
McCain explained his opposition to what he called a "witch hunt": "Because I think, Harry, if you legal -- if you criminalize legal advice, which is basically what they're going to do, then it has a terribly chilling effect on any kind of advice and counsel that the president might receive...this is going to turn into a witch hunt."
Smith followed up by wondering: "...were the legal experts, were the people from the Justice Department who made these findings, did they find -- did they make the decisions they made because they -- these were the decisions the leadership -- that the White House wanted made?" McCain replied: "There's no evidence that I have seen that indicates that they didn't give their most candid advice. And, look, in banana republics they prosecute people for actions they didn't agree with under previous administrations... to go back on a witch hunt that could last for a year or so, frankly, is going to be bad for the country, bad for future presidents -- precedents that may be set by this, and certainly nonproductive in trying to pursue the challenges we face."
On Wednesday, Smith implied that the Bush administration’s use of tough interrogation tactics led to the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal: "Is there a line? Do you see that there is a lining run -- that goes from 2002 to Abu Ghraib to the hundreds of times waterboards were used in these cases of these few CIA cases?"
—Kyle Drennen is a news analyst at the Media Research Center.
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Welcome to the dark ages of Obama!
April 23, 2009 - 11:24 ET by legacyrepublicanMore and more these people look like feudal lords in need of a jester to tell them the truth.
Of course, if you go after lawyers, then they might go after you.
How is that possible?
April 23, 2009 - 12:20 ET by Joe BlogsMcCain has more hair than Smith.
We'll be lucky to emerge
April 23, 2009 - 11:35 ET by SickofLibsWe'll be lucky to emerge from this nightmare even as a banana republic the ways things are going in just this first 100 days.
→ Cheer up SOL
April 23, 2009 - 11:40 ET by Cool ArrowWith Global Warming advancing so quickly, we'll soon be able to grow our own bananas.
Obama - A whole new dementian
Treason
April 23, 2009 - 11:52 ET by cvgbuckeyeI think that there is a much greater case to arrest Barack Hussein Obama for High Treason by the fact that he released classified information, during a war, that is detrimental and damaging to The United States of America.
Don't give me this crap about being legal. What he did was political in nature, attending to the advice of his counsel. THERE IS NOT ONE WHIT OF DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WHAT HE DID AND PRESIDENT BUSH'S INTERROGATION POLICIES!
The only difference is that at this moment, Barack Hussein Obama has temporary control of the national political power, which if he allows this to go forth, he is exactly what we warned that he was.
Let me be the first member of a group that should go to district court to sue that Barack Hussein Obama be immediately arrested for treason.
Any lawyers out there? Any 912 coalitions willing to make this the next big cause for the tea parties in demanding his arrest? LETS GET GOING AND RAISE HELL!
We can call them the "T" parties for "Treason"!
Lol!!!
April 23, 2009 - 11:55 ET by EugeniaBoy do we need laughs these days. Thanks for that one, CA!
I agree and want to grow them way up here... but you need red
April 23, 2009 - 12:16 ET by pahubersoil to grow pineapples!
Cool, don't know if you saw
April 23, 2009 - 14:01 ET by SickofLibsCool, don't know if you saw this, but we also just learned that now our coral plantations are dying due to CO2 poisoning.
What the hell are we supposed to use to decorate our fish tanks??? Bananas???
It is treasonous
April 23, 2009 - 12:13 ET by BDelaneyI completely agree, he should be charged with treason for releasing such information. On the other hand since he released the techniques, he should also release the intelligence that was found by those techniques used. Lets see all of the facts here. If they used those techniques on these peace loving hippie terrorists then we should be also able to hear why they did and what information was extracted.
REMEMBER
April 23, 2009 - 12:23 ET by MillerTimeWarpNICK BERG
Face recriminations for what?
April 23, 2009 - 12:37 ET by IamTinmanFace recriminations for what?
Protecting this country?
Saving American lives?
Aiding our British allies in foiling a terrorist plot?
Waterboarding may not be anything to brag about, but the results sure are.
Harry Smith and his ilk are the kind of hapless sheep that tyrants rely on until they become ineffective. Then they are discarded like a wad of soiled kleenex!
Worse than a Banana Republic
April 23, 2009 - 13:03 ET by Junk Science SkepticCriminalizing policy differences could easily lead to civil war.
The Right and Center may be leaderless and factionalized, but everybody has a limit of what they will tolerate before reacting.
Let's just hope the 2010 elections get here before that limit is reached.
Wrong McCain
April 23, 2009 - 13:49 ET by CaringwhiteguyHarry asked the wrong McCain about this issue. He would have had much better luck with Meghan.
It is really sad, in a way,
April 23, 2009 - 18:10 ET by jdhawkIt is really sad, in a way, that McCain is now being asked these questions concerning torture given that his stance was that they don't work and we should not do them under any circumstances.
The truth is that McCain is a living example that torture does work. He was tortured by the North Vietnamese, he did talk, he was broken by their torture. By the way, being "broken" means that you are completely compliant before your captors. Being "broken" means he gave up whatever they asked of him.
In fact, the training in this area in the military was changed as a direct result of what occured in Vietnam. Before it was, "name, rank, and serial number and nothing more." It has evolved to attempt to hold out at least 72 hours against your interrogators because most tactical information of any valued has changed by that time. And, have faith with your fellow service men and women during capture.
So, instead of making both his circumstances clear - that he was tortured and it did work when he was campaigning, he lied. Further, if he had said the above, he would have had the morale high ground to say that torture has its uses and can and must be used because it is indeed effective as we learned from the present director of the CIA.
The above stances by John McCain helped him lose the election and he will hopefully lose to a conservative when he runs in 2010 for reelction as a senator. McCain is at least in part to blame for the situation we find ourselves in on a host of issues as conservatives. It is time he exited from the political stage.
jdhawk... Right you
April 23, 2009 - 18:29 ET by bigtimerjdhawk...
Right you are....
I watched that all take place in the Seante...he made me more than sick, once again, along with pulling Little Lindsey to his side at the time too, he did this during a time of war, it hurt us, and it wasn't just the water-boarding thing either.
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart
If I were Che' and Smith were Batista ; ) LOL oooooh yeah,
April 23, 2009 - 20:57 ET by pahuberhi sMItH I Am ZoDiAc . . . JUST KIDDING!
CDCFSWG sdf;lj @%$#@ !
zoh, EGSWQR, s;dlfjgsd;fjgsd;fg ... translate that BEOTCH.
Peace in.
God help teh USA.
yah, U Betcha.
pahuber.
If these fools keep
April 24, 2009 - 11:40 ET by rbosqueIf these fools keep callingfor trials of Bush Administration officials, let us make a deal with them. If they shut down our capacity to wage war on terrorism and if (God forbid) we get hit again, let us call for the arrest of all Obama apologists in the media as well as the administration for treason. In their blind rage against Bush, they are screwing us all.