Gates supported release of torture memos.
Gates supported release of torture memos.
Following President Obama’s decision to release four Bush administration legal memos authorizing torture, former Bush CIA director Michael Hayden and former Bush attorney general Michael Mukasey co-authored an Wall Street Journal op-ed decrying the move as “a terrible problem for our national security.” But Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who served in the Bush administration and is also a former CIA director, told reporters today that he supported Obama’s decision:
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates indicated Thursday that he supported the release of sensitive memos on detainee interrogation methods last week because he viewed their ultimate disclosure as inevitable. [...]
In light of congressional probes and lawsuits on detainee operations, there was “a certain inevitability that most of this would come out,” he said.
“All of us wrestled with it,” he said when asked whether he personally supported the release of the memos. But he added that his own view was shaped by his belief that the methods would ultimately become known.
Gates said he deferred to the Justice Department on the extent of the redactions to the memos.
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog Roll
“…former Bush CIA director Michael Hayden and former Bush attorney general Michael Mukasey co-authored an Wall Street Journal op-ed decrying the move as “a terrible problem for our national security.”
Wetting themselves the whole time.
April 23rd, 2009 at 1:45 pmformer Bush CIA director Michael Hayden and former Bush attorney general Michael Mukasey co-authored an Wall Street Journal op-ed decrying the move as “a terrible problem for our national security.”
____________________________________________________________
“a terrible problem for the security of our asses” is more like it.
Do these “national security!” alarmists honestly believe the world didn’t think we tortured before the memos were released?
April 23rd, 2009 at 1:48 pmGates seems to be the type that will do or say what ever his master at the time tells him to do or say.
April 23rd, 2009 at 1:50 pmWell, that cuts into the emerging meme of “Obama went against the CIA and DoD in releasing these.”
April 23rd, 2009 at 1:50 pmAIO grasshopper Says:
Gates seems to be the type that will do or say what ever his master at the time tells him to do or say.
Most people call that “having a job.”
April 23rd, 2009 at 1:51 pmThey needed to be released so that we could deal with it, and make sure this horrible stuff never happens again. Torturing people brings America great shame. It reduces us to what we think they are. Those of us who love our country will never support torture. It is wrong. It endangers our troops. Let’s make sure it stops never to return.
April 23rd, 2009 at 1:52 pmformer Bush CIA director Michael Hayden and former Bush attorney general Michael Mukasey co-authored an Wall Street Journal op-ed decrying the move as “a terrible problem for our national security.”
I’m not sure why they’ve objected to the release of the memos when this was already public knowledge. The memos just confirmed what most of us already knew. They’re just scared that their a$$es are going to be mowed like grass.
April 23rd, 2009 at 1:55 pmBut he added that his own view was shaped by his belief that the methods would ultimately become known.
So he knew the beans would eventually spill out of the bag, so….
April 23rd, 2009 at 2:15 pmSay what you will about Gates but even if he figures his butt will come under fire, he took a decent stance. He is actually doing the job he hired on to do.
If anyone can name any other person from the previous administration or on the Hill right now who has done this, I’d be willing to listen.
April 23rd, 2009 at 2:38 pmRUCeriousMaggot! Says:
But he added that his own view was shaped by his belief that the methods would ultimately become known.
It’s relevant. One of the things that confuzzles me so much about the BushCo behavior is that they seem to have behaved as if what they’ve done would never come out. Which just makes no sense, given how many laws are on the books regarding government recordkeeping and the release of information. If all you’ve got is stalling, then inevitably you will fail. Even if you agree with Cheney about everything else, that one’s just plain dumb.
April 23rd, 2009 at 2:44 pmBUSH PROVES ROVE AND FOX ARE LYING ABOUT TORTURE
by Jed Lewison
Thu Apr 23, 2009 at 10:02:03 AM PDT
Over the past couple of days, Karl Rove and Fox News have offered a new argument in defense of the Bush administration’s torture policies.
Now, they say, waterboarding Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) yielded intelligence that led to the disruption of an al Qaeda plot to attack the tallest building in Los Angeles, the Library Tower (which both Bush and Rove called the Liberty Tower, for some reason). There’s just one problem with Rove’s new story: it couldn’t possibly be true.
As Timothy Noah pointed out in Slate, the Los Angeles attack was foiled in February of 2002. KSM was not captured until March of 2003, however — more than a year later.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that timeline is impossible. Perhaps appropriately, then, here’s a video of George W. Bush — in his own words — proving that Karl Rove and Fox News are lying about torture:
http://www.dailykostv.com/w/001220/
April 23rd, 2009 at 2:58 pmbecause he viewed their ultimate disclosure as inevitable.
Obama had no choice but to release them. It was the right thing to do. And if they had been leaked, which they ultimately would have been, then questions would arise as to the complicity of the Obama Administration and Obama might have lost a bit of trust by the American Public.
In other news… Dick Cheney says: “So?”
April 23rd, 2009 at 3:02 pmosage Says:
BUSH PROVES ROVE AND FOX ARE LYING ABOUT TORTURE
It won’t matter to those that watch the Fox News Channel. They don’t trust any other news source.
April 23rd, 2009 at 3:04 pm“Gates supported release of torture memos.”
Good, now let release the memos of “Iran-Contra” and find out Gates and Negroponte’s involvement on War Crimes!
April 23rd, 2009 at 3:35 pmGates managed to skate on Iran-Contra, but he did lose his bid for the CIA seat because of it. He thought support for the Contras was futile, for whatever that’s worth. I don’t think he’s a totalitarian ideologue or a good minion for one.
Looks like there is a lot going on, and that’s a good thing.
April 23rd, 2009 at 6:03 pmThanks SitesSesli Sohbet
April 30th, 2009 at 8:58 amSesli Chat
SesliSohbet
SesliChat