"First of all, let me repeat I have opposed torture. It’s a violation of the Geneva Conventions. I worry about treatment of Americans in future conflicts.
But a very brief story. Senator Lindsey Graham and I were at Camp Bucca. 20,000 Iraqis were held prisoner there. We met with a former high- ranking member of Al Qaida. I said to him, I said, how did you succeed? What was the recipe for your success? He said, two things. One, the chaos that existed after the initial invasion. There was no order whatsoever. He said second, Abu Ghraib. He said, we were able to recruit thousands of young men into our cause because of Abu Ghraib. So have no doubt about my feeling about that. And we did pass the Detainee Treatment Act, which prohibits cruel and inhumane and degrading treatment.
So we are where we are. There has been an investigation by the Senate Armed Services Committee. There is -- it is well known what happened. There is going to be pictures that are going to be coming out, which will again authenticate that wrong things were done.
But are you going to prosecute people for giving bad legal advice? Are you going to keep on down this road in order, frankly, to -- maybe there’s an element of settling old political scores here.
We need to put this behind us. We need to move forward".
My Buddy on NYforMitt pointed out in email:
"... Pat Buchanan had a good point to put it all in perspective. To end World War II, we dropped two atomic bombs on Japan, killing many innocent men, women and children. (Tho we also know we took out weapons facilities, including the one where they manufactured the bombs for Pearl Harbor, etc) By dropping those bombs, we also saved many more lives and ended a World War. Compare what President Truman did to what we have done post 9/11 ... (so-called torture of detainees) Hardly rises to the same level, and in my opinion, both necessary. We didn't prosecute President Truman, nor should we have -- ditto President Bush and his Administration. It's certainly political what is going on, and nothing will unite the GOP faster than if Obama tries to prosecute people.."
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