The panel on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” got into a tense debate Tuesday over the release of a long-awaited Senate report examining the CIA’s treatment of detainees during the Bush administration.
Nicolle Wallace, a frequent “Morning Joe” guest and former George W. Bush spokeswoman, gave an impassioned defense of the agency’s waterboarding of three al-Qaeda suspects.
“In the history of this country, I think months after 9/11 there were three people who we thought knew about imminent attacks and we did whatever we had to do,” Wallace said. “And I pray to god that until the end of time, we do whatever we have to do to find out what’s happening.”
“The notion that somehow this makes America less great is asinine and dangerous,” she added.
Wallace then expressed frustration that White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest wouldn’t say whether President Barack Obama found information gleaned from those harsh interrogation techniques helpful in tracking down Osama Bin Laden.
“That’s what this is about. Does this help us kill people who want to kill us regardless of what we do,” she said. “But the notion that what we do affects terrorists is a lie. It’s a lie perpetrated by political correctness and liberals, and it’s dangerous.”
Former Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean pushed back on that point, arguing that the problem isn’t whether the CIA waterboarded three people but rather what else the U.S. government did that American citizens don’t know about yet.
“What else did we do to make sure that 3,000 people weren’t blown out, obliterated on a New York City morning?” Wallace said. “I don’t care what we did.”
Watch below:
didn’t she work for palin? nuff said.
“I don’t care what we did.”
That, in a nutshell, is why America is less great.
That’s unfair. Wallace was assigned to Palin by the McCain campaign. According to Game Change, she early on concluded that Palin was unqualified for the job and became one of her sharpest critics during the campaign and thereafter.
I happen to believe that Wallace is normally a thoughtful right of center analyst. However, her statement that she “doesn’t care” what we did in the name of preventing another attack is deeply troubling. Under that theory, the difference between the ISIS approach to operations and ours isn’t wide enough to hold a razor blade.
“What else did we do to make sure that 3,000 people weren’t blown out, obliterated on a New York City morning?” Wallace said. “I don’t care what we did.”
Actually, your boss didn’t do a darn thing to prevent that one.
“But the notion that what we do affects terrorists is a lie. It’s a lie perpetrated by political correctness and liberals, and it’s dangerous.”
If there’s nothing we can do, then why torture?
P.S. Hopefully there will be more coverage of the torture report forthcoming TPM?
In my mind there is no possible way a female Republican is “thoughtful.”