Ex-CIAer Jose Rodriguez Schools Andrea Mitchell: Enhanced Interrogation Techniques Aren't Torture
Andrea Mitchell on the MSNBC program bearing her name Tuesday twice referred to "enhanced interrogation techniques" as "torture."
The second time, Jose Rodriguez, the former director of the CIA's National Clandestine Services, set the record straight (video follows with transcript and commentary):
ANDREA MITCHELL, HOST: Was the decades-long hunt for Osama bin Laden the result of so-called enhanced interrogation techniques, otherwise known as torture approved by the Bush-Cheney White House and later outlawed by President Obama?
Jose Rodriguez had the key role in charge of the CIA’s Clandestine Services for years, a job that put him in charge of all covert operations against suspected terrorists, an effort that included the use of enhanced interrogation techniques and renditions – shipping suspects to black sites in countries that did use torture. He also acknowledges destroying tapes of CIA interrogations.
Jose Rodriguez has written a new book about all of that called “Hard Measures,” and he joins me now from New York.
Towards the end of the segment, Mitchell made this comparison again:
MITCHELL: But do you have any second thoughts about the enhanced interrogation techniques which are otherwise known as torture?
JOSE RODRIGUEZ: I have no second thoughts, and they should not be equated with torture. And that is a myth that has gone on for too long, and one of the reasons why I wrote this book was to set the record straight. All of this was authorized by our government, was certified as legal by Justice, and was briefed to the Congress. So, you know, it’s pretty straightforward.
That warrants repeating: "All of this was authorized by our government, was certified as legal by Justice, and was briefed to the Congress."
Why is it that liberal media members like Mitchell refuse to acknowledge this?
Something else to consider is that irrespective of one's opinion of water boarding - which is actually used as part of the Air Force's Survival Evasion Resistance Escape (SERE) program - there are other enhanced interrogation techniques that were authorized in March 2002.
ABCNews.com reported them in November 2005:
1. The Attention Grab: The interrogator forcefully grabs the shirt front of the prisoner and shakes him.
2. Attention Slap: An open-handed slap aimed at causing pain and triggering fear.
3. The Belly Slap: A hard open-handed slap to the stomach. The aim is to cause pain, but not internal injury. Doctors consulted advised against using a punch, which could cause lasting internal damage.
4. Long Time Standing: This technique is described as among the most effective. Prisoners are forced to stand, handcuffed and with their feet shackled to an eye bolt in the floor for more than 40 hours. Exhaustion and sleep deprivation are effective in yielding confessions.
5. The Cold Cell: The prisoner is left to stand naked in a cell kept near 50 degrees. Throughout the time in the cell the prisoner is doused with cold water.
6. Water Boarding: The prisoner is bound to an inclined board, feet raised and head slightly below the feet. Cellophane is wrapped over the prisoner's face and water is poured over him. Unavoidably, the gag reflex kicks in and a terrifying fear of drowning leads to almost instant pleas to bring the treatment to a halt.
Does Mitchell view attention grabs and slaps as torture?
Even if she does, much of this is a smokescreen.
The real issue that's gotten the media's undies in a bunch since Rodriguez began his book tour is his view that such techniques led to the CIA discovering the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden and therefore his execution.
Folks like Mitchell and her ilk want the victory lap on the one year anniversary of bin Laden's death to themselves and the 44th President who they helped put in office and want reelected.
The notion that anything George W. Bush and Dick Cheney authorized might have even remotely been a factor in what happened a year ago in Abbottabad, Pakistan, is galling them, and somehow they'll all feel better if the means to such information was torture.
In their twisted logic, then it wouldn't count.
As I've said for years, it takes a staggering amount of rationalizations to be a liberal these days - especially if you work for MSNBC.
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Comments
Substitute water deprivation for waterboarding, and
Submitted by merly1 on Wed, 05/02/2012 - 9:37pm.
You have pretty much the tactics of most high school football coaches in the 1960's and
1970's. And I guarantee in hindsight the water deprivation was far more dangerous.
I am not even kidding in the least. Is it any wonder why so many countries think
America has gone soft? The countries that really torture--shocks, pulling out nails, etc must
look at our media and just guffaw. Mitchell is really about as big a dope as there is in the MSM.
Instead if waterboarding or
Submitted by Gat New York on Wed, 05/02/2012 - 9:53pm.
Instead if waterboarding or water deprivation or even sleep deprivation I would substitute listening to 2 1/2 hours of Abba music.
Or
Submitted by Boudin on Wed, 05/02/2012 - 9:56pm.
Yoko Ono
Sleep Deprivation
Submitted by Radical1979 on Wed, 05/02/2012 - 9:57pm.
So Bru's new baby is torturing her is she's keeping Bru up at night? How Orwellian.
Ms. Rad, I wrote and recorded
Submitted by killa37 on Thu, 05/03/2012 - 12:54am.
Ms. Rad, I wrote and recorded a song for my lovely grandson after he was born, and one of the lines was about his smiling face and his crying tears being music to my ears!!! And I'm sure that Ms. Brunette feels the same way!!!
Gat
Submitted by Tugboat Phil on Thu, 05/03/2012 - 12:00am.
Abba would be sweet relief from even 10 minutes of watching Andrea's show.
(actually I kind of like some Abba songs. I'm old enough now that I don't give a d*mn)
I pick
Submitted by Fishkakes on Wed, 05/02/2012 - 10:59pm.
Jose for vice-president!
Andrea Mitchell
Submitted by adamsmith on Wed, 05/02/2012 - 9:43pm.
and the rest of the Clown Parade at MSNBC are torture defined.
Kudos...
Submitted by P. Aaron on Thu, 05/03/2012 - 8:50am.
...for accurately defining torture in America today.
I think we should force terrorist
Submitted by Boudin on Wed, 05/02/2012 - 9:46pm.
To look and listen to Andrea Mitchell. Now thats torture!
Torture to a Liberal?
Submitted by Bobbygn on Wed, 05/02/2012 - 9:53pm.
Andrea Mitchell would consider it torture if the interrogator didnt warm his lips first before kissing the terrorists a$$.
Torture
Submitted by HudsonRiverGirl on Thu, 05/03/2012 - 4:21am.
Andrea, did you notice that KSM is sill alive while an American citizen abroad was outright murdered with a drone sent by your boy, without the benefit of a trial or official charges against him?
If only Andrea would give up the kool aid, or is it kook aid, for a day or two she might get back to the real world.
Misplaced priorities
Submitted by Unsane on Wed, 05/02/2012 - 10:02pm.
Good to see how Mrs. Mitchell is so deeply concerned for those poor dears. I wish she showed as much concern for people who, for the crime of stupidly showing up at work, faced either a 767 hitting them head on, jumping out a 110 story building, or having said building cave in on them. THAT sounds like torture to me.
"CONSUMED DEMOCRACY RETURNS A SOCIALIST REGIME" - Slayer, "Fictional Reality", from Divine Intervention (1994)
I love the first sentence
Submitted by ant on Wed, 05/02/2012 - 10:16pm.
I love the first sentence from Andrea here. How much Dimocrat propaganda can you cram into one sentence? The only thing she left out was the 'war on contraception'.
"...otherwise known as torture, and approved by the Bush-Cheney White House then later outlawed by President Obama."
Andrea Mitchell otherwise
Submitted by the struggler on Wed, 05/02/2012 - 11:26pm.
Andrea Mitchell otherwise known as propagandist.
Idiots will rush out to buy this fool's book
Submitted by lrgon on Thu, 05/03/2012 - 12:45am.
"All of this was authorized by our government, was certified as legal by Justice, and was briefed to the Congress. So, you know, it’s pretty straight forward."
That was pretty much the lame excuse the Nazi soldiers used to defend their actions at Auschwitz. Sleep deprivation was also used by Nazi goons on helpless victims. http://remember.org/auschwitz/images/_H4O8165-krem_model_1-s.jpg
Gasundheit! You have dee cold from standing for hours in dis cold cell? Good, our techniques day do werk, ya? I would like you to know that dis is not torture. the Fuhrer and dee German gooverment back our enhanced interrorgay-shun tings. We have dee support of dee people!"
So, Irksome, you obviously
Submitted by killa37 on Thu, 05/03/2012 - 12:58am.
So, Irksome, you obviously don't agree with him, or his techniques, or his approach towards this whole situation?? Well, Mr. Smart Guy - maybe you could tell us what you would do............or maybe, what Ron Paul would do...............who has been about as on the money on foreign policy as Joe Plugs Bite-Me.
Irgon's hero
Submitted by Unsane on Thu, 05/03/2012 - 7:27am.
Ron Paul's response would be the following:
1) Completely dismantle the military.
2) Expel the entirety of America's Jewish population.
3) Completely dismantle the entire Foreign Service and PNG every single diplomat and foreign official in the country.
4) Arrest and imprison any American with a valid or expired passport permanently.
5) Prohibit any discussion or mention of any part of the world outside of the United States.
All of that is a dream of hate filled bigoted xenophobes like Irgon.
"CONSUMED DEMOCRACY RETURNS A SOCIALIST REGIME" - Slayer, "Fictional Reality", from Divine Intervention (1994)
Went right to the Reich
Submitted by Ruths husband Ben on Thu, 05/03/2012 - 7:00am.
Went right to the Reich comparison, eh Godwin? Good display of reasoning powers. So, anything the Nazi's used is makes one equivalent to the Nazi's? How about this for a quote:
‘”We are socialists, we are enemies of today’s capitalistic economic system for the exploitation of the economically weak, with its unfair salaries, with its unseemly evaluation of a human being according to wealth and property instead of responsibility and performance, and we are all determined to destroy this system under all conditions.” –Adolf Hitler
Would that make all of Occupy Wall Street Nazi's?
Oh, and our soldiers use guns, so did the Nazi's. Does that make our soldiers Nazis?
How about people that drive VW bugs?
Idiots bore me, so I am moving on.
Have a nice day.
Irgon the terrorist supporter
Submitted by Unsane on Thu, 05/03/2012 - 7:24am.
Come on, admit it, Irgon. You support the terrorists and watched the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 unfold on your television WITH ABSOLUTE GLEE.
In fact, the only thing that disappointed you about them is that they didn't kill tens of thousands more of your fellow citizens.
Good to see that, yet again, you love freedom, liberty and the Constitution, but yet are completely, utterly, totally unwilling to defend any of them, and that you value and support the enemies of your country far more than your country itself.
Freedom is not there for the asking contrary to your beliefs.
"CONSUMED DEMOCRACY RETURNS A SOCIALIST REGIME" - Slayer, "Fictional Reality", from Divine Intervention (1994)
This idiot will...
Submitted by GeneralAl on Thu, 05/03/2012 - 8:26am.
This idiot will gladly by this fool's book! Of course an idiot like you reads "Dreams of my Father" and "The Audacity of Hope", written by the biggest fool ever to hold public office!
"Old Soldiers never die, they just fade away"!
Sleep deprivation was also
Submitted by Newsbusterbrown on Thu, 05/03/2012 - 8:36am.
Sleep deprivation was also used by Nazi goons on helpless victims.
Wow! I never realized how much we were alike with the Nazis until I read your learned post. Thanks!
(rolls eyes)
“There are no easy answers, but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right.” - Ronald Reagan (1964 Republican Convention)
please don't
Submitted by Barabbus on Thu, 05/03/2012 - 9:54am.
Irgon, we know you're an idiot, you sense you're an idiot, so you don't bother anybody here. I am not Jewish, but on behalf of the surviving family members of those murdered in the Nazi death camps, I beseech you, I implore you, I beg you, to not cause them any more pain by equating making a terrorist stand for a while on a cold floor with what happened at an Auschwitz or a Dachau. I know you're just another Obamabot, eager to spread the hatred around. But please, try to use another analogy. Maybe the Romans or something. Anybody! But if you have any semblence of decency, you will desist from needlessly causing so much anguish to those who understand what true horror looks like. I am embarrassed FOR YOU. And I await the day in November when we will be free from this sick regime of haters, led by this grinning, Joker-faced majorette-of-devision President and our truly gutless Secretary of state who on this very day is trying to rid herself and her Chinese leash holders of this brave Chinese dissident. It's repugnant to watch, and for the first time in my life I am NOT proud of my country.
Commie birds of a feather
Submitted by jon_torlin on Thu, 05/03/2012 - 10:49am.
Communists do not fight each other, that's why Hillary/Obeyme aren't doing much to live up to "defending freedom and the rule of law" when that ship sailed on Jan 20, 2009.(not doing much really means going against it which they are)
Someone fooled that guy into thinking he'll get some help from the US in its current form. He's screwed. And want to bet that he WILL get tortured in the real sense instead of just having the crap scared out of him like we do in our enhanced techniques?(that is to say, when we still used them)
(sarcasm on)I mean, look at that guy, who cares if he wants to leave China, China doesn't want to let him go, he's got too much to offer...wait...he's blind and physically messed up, so they'll take him somewhere away from everyone to make sure he's "taken care of." See, what's so bad about Communism, they take care of their own, even when people get the idea of leaving it!(sarcasm off)
As for lrgon and his idiocy, as people like to say, "don't feed the trolls," he's as trollish as they come.
-Jon
you're right
Submitted by Barabbus on Thu, 05/03/2012 - 12:56pm.
Jon, you're right. I took the bait and fed this bozo. Will not happen again.
He's our current Godwin's Law poster child.
Submitted by drsamherman on Thu, 05/03/2012 - 11:47pm.
Count on Irgie to bring in Nazis in every topic. You could be discussing the color of roses in your back yard and Irgie will bring on the Paulian Nazi garbage somehow into the conservation.
Mention you had a hamburger, he'll mention Hamburg is part of Germany and go into some inconsequential diatribe. Mention the chrome wheels on your car, and somehow he'll connect Goebbels to the topic.
He's a Paulbot with no "off" switch.
I listened to this a couple
Submitted by killa37 on Thu, 05/03/2012 - 12:55am.
I listened to this a couple of days ago.................this guy is THE BOMB!!! And he played the idiotic and pathetic Ms. Mitchell like a cheap violin, and he beat her like a rented mule...........and she didn't even know it!!! Why isn't this guy on the ticket????
Contrast
Submitted by Nonanon on Thu, 05/03/2012 - 6:50am.
Why do liberals /Democrats want to do far worse to fellow citizens who hold conservative beliefs while wanting nothing done to terrorists who seek to kill us? We've read many posts of how they want conservatives treated and see how they fight to protect criminals and terrorists.
On this whole BHO OKing the team to kill OBL, isn't there another flip flop with their stance on firearms? They can't stand for us to be armed as individuals or as a country, yet they are celebrating the killing accomplished by armed soldiers.
True leaders accept blame while giving credit while BHO accepts all credit while pushing all blame to others. He is not a leader, he is at best a narcissist.
Liberals are guilty or actually doing the things they accuse conservatives are doing and are totally blind to the truth! That has to come from them emoting rather than thinking. They discard truth and facts in favor of their feelings to arrie at their positions.
I know first hand that
Submitted by Ruths husband Ben on Thu, 05/03/2012 - 7:04am.
I know first hand that waterboarding is very effective. When I first learned about it (when it made all the news some years ago), my cat hid my dog's chew toy. So, I waterboarded my cat. He gave it up. I still can't get him back in the bathtub, though.
Politicians lie
Submitted by DontFeedTheTrolls on Thu, 05/03/2012 - 7:17am.
"All of this was authorized by our government, was certified as legal by Justice, and was briefed to the Congress."
Yep, authorized by Congress, members of which now deny that FACT. Like the lying Nancy Pelosi.
I guess she is like Obama, was sitting there for 20 years but she wasn't listening.
"CIA Joe". . .
Submitted by rickbren on Thu, 05/03/2012 - 8:20am.
. . . A REAL American hero!!! Rush, Sean, Laura, et.al. you may quote me!
Jose Rodriguez . . .
Submitted by Benjamin on Thu, 05/03/2012 - 9:04am.
Making liberal's heads explode wherever he goes! He's a patriot and a Great American - plus, he's got the goods on Nancy Pelosi and how she was briefed on enhanced interrogations, including waterboarding.
Mrs Greenspan asks the same
Submitted by celator on Thu, 05/03/2012 - 9:24am.
Mrs Greenspan asks the same kind of questions that would be asked by a space alien who had been dispatched from a planet in the Andromeda Galaxy to the Third Rock From The Sun. Her assigned mission: to discover what these strange Earthlings were all about.
That's one scary looking
Submitted by Free Stinker on Thu, 05/03/2012 - 9:57am.
That's one scary looking alien.
/// Sarah Palin Fan since July 11, 2007 /// خال
Rendition. When will Andrea Mitchell drag Clinton and Gore
Submitted by Gary Hall on Thu, 05/03/2012 - 12:27pm.
Rendition. When will Andrea Mitchell (anyone will do) drag Clinton and Gore on camera and ask them a few questions. According to the CIA, FTR, we did about as many extraordinary renditions prior to 9/11, as after.
Allow me to back that up. Charlie Rose interviewed CIA Director Gen. Hayden in 2007:
Rose: I want to get to torture and all of that, and interrogation, in a minute, but just let me stay with the argument where you are. Rendition. Rendition is where you take somebody and you transport them to another country, correct?
Hayden: correct.
Rose: How man people have you done this to?
Hayden: Mid-range, two figures since Sept 11, 2001 - a pace somewhat behind the number of renditions conducted in the 1990's.
Needless to say, Rose almost fell off his chair; but predictably the entire national media would continue to act as if they didn't hear it. Heck, they'd even give Clinton and Clinton administration officials all the air time they would need over the years to attack Bush/Cheney for the policy of rendition, while never asking them about their own policy. Obama? Well, he refused to ban the policy as well; after all, if he does ever close Gitmo, he'll have to have the ability to "rendition" captured terrorists to someplace dark.
So, how did this all come about? Turn to the MS's favorite man of many faces, former National Security Advisor, Richard Clarke. , "Against All Enemies," 143-4.- my bold:
Snatches, or more properly "extraordinary renditions," were operations to apprehend terrorists abroad, usually without the knowledge of and almost always without public acknowledgement of the host government. . . The first time I proposed a snatch, in 1993, the White House Counsel, Lloyd Cutler, demanded a meeting with the President to explain how it violated international law. Clinton had seemed to be siding with Cutler until Al Gore belatedly joined the meeting, having just flown overnight from South Africa. Clinton recapped the arguments on both sides for Gore: Lloyd says this. Dick says that. Gore laughed and said, "That's a no-brainer. Of course it's a violation of international law, that's why it's a covert action. The guy is a terrorist. Go grab his ass."
And shortly thereafter, Bill Clinton ordered the CIA to establish the US program of extraordinary rendition (PDD#39); the idea being that we could ship them off to you know who in Egypt, etc., so that they could be tortured to get information out of them.
Imagine had VP Cheney made such a statement so documented by his Nat'l Sec Advisor. How many hundreds of times would he be asked about it - how many hundreds of times would the MSM bring it up in their effort to smear? Gee, I hear calls of "War Criminal."
Earlier Noel posted about Brian Wiliams, NBC, interview of Bill Clinton, on "Hardrock" (oops - Rock Center - or is it, left of center?). I'm guessing that Williams didn't, once again, bother to ask Clinton what his view of Rendition was.
And, they were doing this long before the shock of 9/11 and before the twin embassy attacks in Africa and before the Cole. One must wonder what Al Gore might have supported, had he been President in 2001.
Does anyone have any doubt that both Clinton and Gore would have authorized waterboarding?
(;~/ gary
"No! Please G_d No! Not
Submitted by ex buff e-dub on Thu, 05/03/2012 - 11:52pm.
"No! Please G_d No! Not another can of chocolate Ensure! I'll tell you everything! But please! No more!"