Apparently Andrea thinks torture is a good thing and makes us awesome.
Fox News host Andrea Tantaros had a somewhat unique reaction to the Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture programs, which included for example forcing hummus into a detainee’s rectum and threatening to rape a detainee’s mother.
“The United States of America is awesome. We are awesome, but we’ve had this discussion” about torture, Tantaros said. She lamented, “the reason they want to have this discussion is not to show how awesome we are;” rather, “this administration wants to have this discussion to show us how we’re not awesome.” This is because “they apologized for this country, they don’t like this country, they want us to look bad. And all this does is have our enemies laughing at us, that we are having this debate again.”
She also alleges that the Senate Intelligence Committee torture report, announced in 2009 and released now over the Obama administration’s objections, was a plot to distract from Obamacare’s latest political woes. It starts around 2:59.
I am amazed that someone on Faux News just thinks “government knows best” and is willing to turn over our moral compass to the CIA. Tantaros is simply coming off like a moron. There is no thought here. Just babbling to hear her own voice.
She could at least argue the facts that those involved have supplies, rather than her “gee willikers” position. The assumption that everyone knew is simply false. No one knew much of anything until 2006, including the President of the United States. In 2006 torture was more clearly defined and outlawed. That should tell us something.
As for timing, what would have happened if Dianne Feinstein had not compromised and gotten the CIA report released? Would it have been released when the Senate reconvened in January?
“Thousands of people lost their lives after 9-11″ ???
Andrea must be confused. Who killed thousands AFTER 9-11?
Since 2001, there have been over 6,700 Military deaths and over 51,000 wounded in those two sandboxes.
Then she should have said during the wars we were engaged in. Her statement lead me to think she was referring to terrorist attacks. I think I will go back and amend what I said to avoid confusion.
These obviously were not POWs.
I just took my comment down. It was easier. I clearly differentiate between our 2 wars and terrorist attacks. I realize not everyone does.
I would never want to detract from those who gave their lives in the service of the country NOR would I want to diminish those who died from clean up related illnesses post 9-11, even though I serious doubt that is what Andrea meant.
Hah! Make me laugh some more. Believing the “government knows best” and being willing to turn over their moral compass to the current Dem leadership is a sure fire trait of liberals.
I believe the moral compass was turned over to the American people rather than a small group of people.
Good for Andrea. Sounds like a tough woman grounded in reality.
I have found her to be rather shallow.
NBC’s Brian Williams interviewed former CIA Director Michael Hayden on yesterday’s Democratic report on waterboarding.
Brian Williams: How are we better than our enemies morally in light of what we all read about today?
Michael Hayden: Well, let me give you a startling statement, Brian. And look, everyone knows these things were very tough. I got involved in this very late in the program. I endorsed their use going forward in a very minimized form. So these decisions aren’t taken lightly by anyone, believe me…. As bad as some people think the CIA behavior was with regard to these 100 or so detainees, if everyone on the planet used CIA behavior as the model the world would actually improve.
This. Trying to conflate our actions with the barbarity of our enemies is flat out wrong.
I think that this release is revenge upon the CIA from the Senate because of the spying. All of the information was previously discussed. This is just to embarrass the CIA and the previous administration. It’s a “last hurrah” during the lame duck session.
Still waiting for Congress to say what ISN’T torture. What are the EXACT limits? We need Congress to design and publish the exact rules and techniques that are acceptable.
Otherwise….. why have these investigations?
I LOVE the complaint that we shouldn’t torture because, according to some, its not effective.
If torture, or whatever it is that is being done….is that bad, it should not be done even if it works every time and we can get the enemy’s plans for the next 100 years and stop a nuclear attack tomorrow.
So based upon that complaint…are they saying that if it WAS effective, it would be just fine?
Good point. If it were effective, would we condone it? What extremes would we have to be facing to make torture acceptable.
I think the Congress is going to have to be very specific about what constitutes torture. Even then, there will be wiggle room.
I don’t think it is revenge. I think the American people have been concerned over the lack of oversight by some of our agencies for a long time.
Is that just because she doesn’t agree with you?
No. Sometimes I agree with her. She is just shallow and doesn’t seem to have insight into things.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/dec/10/joseph-curl-cia-torture-report-release-is-dangerou/
Interesting take that I agree with.
I agree with Senator McCain, thst these methods are ineffective and morally repulsive. McCain lows fron his wRtime experience in Vietnam.
Speier: Every single page had something in the executive summary that shocked me. Whether it was the rehydration anally or keeping them sleep deprived for one-hundred and eighty hours with their hands over their head in shackles. That is not what this country is about and we have got to shut this down.
MSNBC host: Should the agency issue an apology?
Speier: Absolutely.
Apparently we should apologize to Al Qaeda.
What show was this on?
No, no one should apologize to Al Qaeda. How about just stop doing it. If anyone gets an apology it should be the American people. I don’t want war-crime crap like that done in my name.
The apology would be to the American people for doing these acts in our name but without our approval.
totally agree, Ed. I responded the same way before I saw your comment.
“So based upon that complaint…are they saying that if it WAS effective, it would be just fine?”
Torture, if it worked flawlessly, might be justified in cases when many lives are imminently at stake. It is not acceptable for general police work or to infiltrate a terrorist organization. The cruel and unusual punishment part of the Bill of Rights is the basis for prohibiting government from using torture on prisoners. None of the information gain from the poisoned tree of torture should be admitted into any legal proceedings. If the police are willing to gamble that the information they extract through torture is so valuable that they are willing to give the prisoner a get out of jail free card, then I’ll defer to their judgment.
That is primarily the reason Colonel Davis resigned his commission. He was the chief prosecutor at Gitmo.
I might relent on torture if there was imminent danger to many lives. However, routinely, no. Its a war crime. It is forbidden by the Bill of Rights. Just because you are out of the country doesn’t mean you dispose of American values and laws.
@Moon-howler
Democrat Jackie Speier (D-CA) told MSNBC yesterday that the Central Intelligence Agency should apologize to Al-Qaeda terrorists.
@Ed Myers
The Congress approved it. They knew all about it.
“If the police are willing to gamble that the information they extract through torture is so valuable that they are willing to give the prisoner a get out of jail free card, then I’ll defer to their judgment.”
And thus the CIA used enhanced interrogation of a few people.
@Moon-howler
If these actions are wrong, then they are wrong regardless of imminent danger. They may be necessary…right or wrong. When talking legalities, right and wrong mean nothing. Congress needs to decide what is LEGAL.
If Congress no longer wants to approve of these actions, then they need to state what is the acceptable limit. It is wrong to demand that our agents save our butts, but then second guess them without telling them what the limits are.
We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.
And when people die, accept that responsibility too.
If the country is on the precipice of nuclear attack and we torture one person to stop it, I will dal with that. It might still be wrong.
You think Congress gets to decide what is legal, as long as it is not a Democratic Congress. Then we have to listento pissing, bitching and moaning forever.
Madam, will you not understand that, in the aftermath of the worst terrorist attack in our history, there was a great fear in this country that additional attacks were in the offing and needed to be stopped as quickly as possible? Our agents were sent off on a dangerous emergency mission with the blessing of almost everyone in government regardless of politics. Heedless of their own lives, their mission was to save yours. Enough of this damned armchair quarterbacking and back stabbing. The next time we need such a mission (in fact, it is going on right now), maybe the rest of you should get away from the safety of your computer rooms and volunteer to join in the battle instead of nagging those who actually do it.
By God, if I could only arrange for you to see the videos sent to the CIA by Hezbollah in Beirut when they delighted in showing us how they were turning Bill Buckley from a man into a piece of almost unrecognizable jello — until his heart gave out And then we only found his bones several years later in a bag by the side of a dirt road. And that was long before 9/11.
So we are to reduce ourselves to their level? No. I don’t think so. We are speaking of war crimes. I am sure the Nazis justified what they did. I am sure the Japanese also justified their animalistic cruelty.
No, some of the things I read about weren’t justifiable.
How do we just “the worst?” What makes 9-11 worse than Pearl Harbor, for instance? Sheer number? Civilian vs military?
Finally, I just don’t want inhumane, illegal things done in my name. If that is the case, at least let me know about it so I can decide.
@Wolve, the tone you are taking strongly implies I ought to just let the government decide for me how deep I want to get in commiting war crimes in my name. Not willing to do that. Furthermore, the enemy already knows what was done to its “heroes.”
I know that terrorists are evil people. I am not excusing them or apologizing for any of the rotten bastards. I just don’t want to become like them.
There will always be heinous evil people. We have them in this country. We don’t throw out the Bill of Rights no matter how tempting it is to do something inhumane to them. Its probably a good thing I am not given the opportunity. I would be very tempted.
@Moon-howler
Did you see me mention a party?
That IS the job of Congress. To determine the laws. To decide what the legal limits are.
The Democrats happen to be the ones that are hypocritically complaining about this even though they approved of it when they were briefed about it, multiple times.
No but I filled in the blanks for you. You didn’t mention a party. I did.
President Obama is lobbying for it. Isn’t he still a democrat?
Where does FOX find these people? Are they taken in off the street at random? A transcript of Tantaros’s remarks would be regarded as unintelligible by anyone whose native language is English.
This is an exceedingly complex issue that goes to the heart of the trade-offs between American values and American conduct. It rests in a crepuscular grey area of immediacy versus principle. Anyone who does not sense and express the ambivalence, the ambiguity of the situation is either not honest, or is so corrupted by partisan ideological thinking that they don’t know what has happened to their own sense of integrity and intelligence.
@Cargosquid
Being briefed does not mean approval.
Tantaros is a Zero – plain and simple.
@Pat.Herve
When you are the Senate Intel. committee and you have authority over the funds, and you can bring other penalties, such as writing a law……and you don’t do anything of these things…..that is approval.
Wouldn’t it be nice if life were that simple?
@Moon-howler
If they make a law NOW, while the Dems and the Pres… control 2/3’s I don’t have a problem with it.
Nothing prevented them from doing it earlier.
All of this angst about the CIA by the Democrats is pure hypocritical theater.
If Congress wants to control this..then they need to do what I suggested. But they won’t. They’ll merely complain but not take any responsibility.
@Wolve
You might like this guy
http://seanlinnane.blogspot.com/2014/12/fangs-pulled-shackles-put-on.html
Former Green Beret.