On Tuesday, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and the Democratically controlled Senate Intelligence Committee released a controversial report detailing the CIA’s enhanced interrogation program used against suspected terrorists in the years after 9/11.
The report has drawn criticism from Republicans and many in the intelligence community but on ABC’s The View, co-host Whoopi Goldberg offered up a bizarre reason for opposing it’s release. Goldberg argued “I don't mind that it comes out. I don’t think right now during the holidays when parents are not paying attention at the malls and kids are running around because they're out of school.”
Whoopi continued her unique opposition to the Democratic report on the CIA's enhanced interrogation program:
I think, for me, with all of the things we have to think about in terms of, you know, being conscious of this and that, holiday season seems an awkward time to me. I don’t mind if you do it in January, but I really -- I think you guys made a big mistake to do it now when folks are vulnerable anyway to increase that vulnerability.
Goldberg seemed more concerned that the details in the report would ruin the holiday season and not that its release could put American lives in jeopardy. For her part, co-host Nicolle Wallace defended the program and argued that the release of the report does not benefit America’s interests:
It's about a program that the CIA called enhanced interrogation. It was used on the worst of the worst terrorists. And lot of people in this country believe that the government has an obligation to do whatever it takes to stop another imminent attack. This program was put in place the months after 9/11. So it hasn’t been used in more than a decade.
As the segment concluded, Goldberg briefly expressed concern over the potential danger associated with releasing the report, she reiterated that her main problem was the timing of the release and not its content:
But again, I get people want the information. I don't understand why we need it two weeks before Christmas, man. I'm sorry. I think -- because you're battening down the hatches all around the world because you know this is insightful what people--
Going to incite folks to get really crazy, put folks at risk. Why would you do it now when all kids are out of school. Hundreds of family people are going through the malls and stuff. I just think it's bad timing. I don't think y'all thought this out. And I'm not saying what I think about it. I just think you shouldn't have done it now.
See relevant transcript below.
ABC’s The View
December 9, 2014
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: But you know, from the really crazy to something that I think is on everybody's mind. Now the CIA is set to release this report of their use of interrogation tactics in the war on terror. And, I mean, people feel very strongly. May I tell you how I feel and then I'll ask you?
ROSIE O’DONNELL: Sure.
GOLDBERG: I don't mind that it comes out. I don’t think right now during the holidays when parents are not paying attention at the malls and kids are running around because they're out of school. I think, for me, with all of the things we have to think about in terms of, you know, being conscious of this and that, holiday season seems an awkward time to me. I don’t mind if you do it in January, but I really -- I think you guys made a big mistake to do it now when folks are vulnerable anyway to increase that vulnerability. That’s just my--
O’DONNELL: Was there a conversation about when to do it? Was that an argument or is that--
GOLDBERG: I don't know.
NICOLLE WALLACE: Well, the debate -- first of all, the program has been over since before George W. Bush left office. It was used on three suspected terrorists. One of them was Khalid Sheikh Mohammed which even the White House has a hard time refusing to acknowledge that he helped give us information to catch and kill Bin Laden.
GOLDBERG: But why right now?
WALLACE: Well, it’s inexplicable. I mean, this is the question because the program is over. It's been over a very long time. But there’s a lot of--
ROSIE PEREZ: Why don’t you explain first what the report is all about.
WALLACE: Well, the report has become very political which is really sad because in 2008 both candidates were against these enhanced interrogation methods, the Democrat and the Republican.
PEREZ: Yes, but it’s about torture, the issue of torture.
WALLACE: Right, but, well, it's about a program that the CIA called enhanced interrogation. It was used on the worst of the worst terrorists. And lot of people in this country believe that the government has an obligation to do whatever it takes to stop another imminent attack. This program was put in place the months after 9/11. So it hasn’t been used in more than a decade.
The people that ran it were just doing their jobs. They were government workers paid on a government pay scale. A lot of them made $60,000, $70,000 a year and they operated in very dangerous parts of the world. So this is revealing things they did in service of their country to keep us safe and at the direction of the government they served and the government that kept up safe in the years after 9/11.
MICHELLE BEADLE: What’s to be gained by releasing this today? What exactly is the end game for this coming out?
O’DONNELL: Transparency so that America can know what their tax dollars are being spent on and we can all have the discussion on whether or not these values are American values. Whether or not we as a society condone or condemn torture of other human beings. I personally am against torture in every aspect.
WALLACE: And that’s why the program is over. Yeah, that debate, that’s exactly right, but that debate’s been had and the program is no more.
PEREZ: Right. The debate’s been had –but I think that a lot of American people feel the same way. And I was really surprised when Senator John McCain spoke against the torture too because he is a Republican. But also, he is --
O’DONNELL: And had been tortured.
.
PEREZ: He was tortured and knows what it's all about. And they also said that the torturing didn't prove any results. It didn’t–it wasn’t effective.WALLACE: But the CIA denies it. And listen, the CIA has defended the program. They said that for the people that were participants of interrogation programs it did yield information that helped them capture terrorists. But that is the debate and I think that’s why it’s arrived at the point where it isn’t what we do. But even John McCain has said that a president should have the prerogative to do whatever it takes.
GOLDBERG: But again, I get people want the information. I don't understand why we need it two weeks before Christmas, man. I'm sorry. I think -- because you're battening down the hatches all around the world because you know this is insightful what people--
WALLACE: Puts Americans at risk.
GOLDBERG: Going to incite folks to get really crazy, put folks at risk. Why would you do it now when all kids are out of school. Hundreds of family people are going through the malls and stuff. I just think it's bad timing. I don't think y'all thought this out. And I'm not saying what I think about it. I just think you shouldn't have done it now. Okay.
O’DONNELL: And it comes out today, right?
BEADLE: Today.
GOLDBERG: Supposedly. You know, I start talking and I just go on and on.
