Political Quotes

“About 12 years ago, 779 people were gathered initially and sent to the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. About 85 percent of them had never actually engaged in direct combat against the United States. A report was issued by an independent, authoritative commission yesterday that I want to bring attention to. It was headed by Asa Hutchinson, a former Republican colleague of ours, and 4 star General Jim Jones, who was head of the National Security Council in the Obama administration. It concluded that the United States engaged in the practice of torture at Guantanamo Bay. It concluded that the methods we used, like waterboarding, slamming prisoners into walls, chaining them in stress positions for hours, violated international legal obligations with ``no firm or persuasive evidence that they produced valuable information that could not have been obtained by other means.'' It also concluded that what we did had ``no justification'' and ``damaged the standing of our Nation, reduced our capacity to convey moral censure when necessary, and potentially increased the danger to U.S. military personnel taken captive.'' It concluded that President Bush and Vice President Cheney were directly involved in condoning such tactics and that their legal advisors engaged in ``acrobatic'' legal analysis to attempt to establish legal justification. There was no legal precedent. Guantanamo Bay should be closed--now. ____________________”