Sam Donaldson v. Liz Cheney Over Torture Investigation
EmailGood roundtable debate yesterday on This Week with George Stephanopoulos. Should Attorney General Eric Holder have appointed a special prosecutor to investigate interrogation techniques used by the CIA?
SAM DONALDSON: “As I understand it, the person, called the prosecutor, has been appointed to determine whether, in his option, there is grounds to proceed with prosecution, he will make a recommendations…he’s not prosecuting at the moment.”
GEORGE WILL: “And if he is to recommend yes, who is to say no?”
LIZ CHENEY: “But this investigation has already been done. This was looked for five years by career prosecutors. They decided not to prosecute except in one case where a contractor has been convicted and is in jail. In the other cases Leon Panetta himself has laid out to his employees that they took disciplinary action where they felt it was necessary at the CIA.”
“The other big danger here though is that we have investigated this all before, we are opening now what is clearly a political investigation and a moment when we need the CIA focused on keeping the nation safe. And there’s no question, but when you start talking about investigating and prosecuting… it is simply the case that their attention is not entirely focused on where we need it to be.”
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Show that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Daddy is a liar and the daughter is following his example.
Posted by: Ken | August 31, 2009, 1:01 pm 1:01 pm
Please take Liz Cheney off of This Week so a discussion can be held, rather than just a Liz Platform. She inhibits the discussion to the point that the show is not worth watching.
Thank you,
Sarah Tinsley
Posted by: Sarah Tinsley | August 31, 2009, 1:17 pm 1:17 pm
Liz Cheney is no different than her father, rude, obnoxious and just plain belligerent and two of a kind.
I wish people would stop giving them a platform to stand on. We voted for change and the Republicans and past administration need to remember that. They lost.
Posted by: Laurie | August 31, 2009, 1:41 pm 1:41 pm
Wasting taxpayer monies on an investigation, of something everyone already knows about, is simply irresponsible behavior, on the part of the Obama administration.
Isn’t anyone in Washington, interested in representing the people, anymore?????
Posted by: Rick McDaniel | August 31, 2009, 1:42 pm 1:42 pm
I concur, Liz Cheney does not know how to “discuss” a topic, she is a typical Republican Strategist who does not understand the give and take of debate and only knows how to be a “talking head” who hits the road with her talking points and everyone else better “zip up and listen to her” She lowers the level of discourse at the roundtable and I will not watch the show when she is present.
Posted by: MK Havrilla | August 31, 2009, 1:54 pm 1:54 pm
The moment I saw her, I turned the channel…but you know i went back and THANK goodness for Sam Donaldson, he said it best…Gosh I think he hit the target and then came the blah blah blah from DARTH’s daughter, she will do and say anything to Protect her CRIMMINAL father and MOTHER…she is also in up to her eyeball’s. come on AMERICA..Never let them FOOL US AGAIN, He is the one behind of this right up there with PRINCE & his BLACKWATER murdere’s….they need to see the inside of a cell forever..
Posted by: janet ramsos | August 31, 2009, 1:59 pm 1:59 pm
What is wrong w/you people that was the most one sided discussion I have ever heard on this program..Sam Donaldson makes zero sense whenever he opens his mouth..he just drums on and on and on and babbles he is not on the same level as Cokie, George S. and George Will. They make since and you can understand them..I do not know why they let him sit at the same table as the grownups…we turn the program off when he sits there and tries to make since…Liz made more since than anything he could say!!!!!!
Not one of you care about our country..you are just vitriolic little people that constantly put down the safety of our country..if you don’t like it leave this country and go to Venezela
Posted by: Jim | August 31, 2009, 3:00 pm 3:00 pm
Let’s see… Sam v Liz? Sam with easy to understand dialog… Liz going over the top with an undoubtedly personal agenda… bottom line… why would innocent people care about an investigation period… they’re innocent, this will clear their name. Perhaps they fear an imperfect justice system… these ‘Death Penalty’ advocates. Liz carries on like she’s back at home (FOX) stepping all over a two sided debate. I would have liked to here the conservative point however she never gave George Will the chance to speak.
Posted by: GoBlue | August 31, 2009, 3:06 pm 3:06 pm
It’s her father. Cut the girl some slack.
Can somebody answer this question?:
Was waterboarding against a specific law at that time? I didn’t ask if you agree with it or not. Was there a specific law that would affect whether waterboarding was or was not a crime at that time?
Sometimes laws can be interpreted in different ways. I say, ‘let the Supreme Court answer that one’.
It has nothing to do whether it was right or wrong; good or bad; just or unfair. What did the laws say about waterboarding at that time?
We can move forward after the verdict and vow never to do this again. I personally believe waterboarding is torture. It gives you permanent PTSD for one thing. However, we always have to watch out for the interpretation factor. Mean kids turn into mean adults sometimes.
Posted by: ddg | August 31, 2009, 3:07 pm 3:07 pm
Jim,
There are many who object to totrture who love and have served this country in many times of war and peace. If there are unanswered questions, they should be investigated. It is hard to take a moral high ground if your actions are morally reprehensible. I say this as a disabled Vet, who still serves the country by helping build the next generation of support for our special forces and sailors.
Posted by: John | August 31, 2009, 3:29 pm 3:29 pm
Oh Chaney, Oh Liz, you both can’t babble your way out of this. Waterboarding is torture, that is a fact. There is no proof that it works (the person being torture will tell you anything – just to make you stop). That is a fact, also. There are other ways to get information from prisoners that do work, that is also a fact. Chaney and his daughter don’t understand that – guess what? That is also a fact!
Posted by: Maxy51 | August 31, 2009, 3:54 pm 3:54 pm
I’m not so sure about what to think of this…torture is not my think, but sometimes it’s required to get the answers from the Enemy.
Posted by: jreed | August 31, 2009, 4:45 pm 4:45 pm
jreed, torture does not get credible answers from anyone. The person being tortured will say anything he thinks the questioner wants to hear just to stop the torture.
Posted by: Tom | August 31, 2009, 6:32 pm 6:32 pm
Cheney broke the laws of both the United States and the international treaties we signed.He admitted it.No further investigation required.I would really rather not have to listen to him or his family accept maybe if he is apologizing to the world for his actions in a vain and useless attempt to gain clemency from the court at his sentencing.
Posted by: wolf | August 31, 2009, 7:50 pm 7:50 pm
The Republicans HAMMERED at Bill Clinton for OVER 8 years (since BEFORE he took office the first term). They can certainly DISH IT OUT, but they can’t take it!
Posted by: Ron Farrell | September 1, 2009, 1:33 am 1:33 am
Ron, it seems the feeling is probably mutual to some extent. I notice that both parties are guilty of this.
Posted by: ddg | September 1, 2009, 1:39 am 1:39 am
You bleeding hearts make me want to puke. Your phony concern for the scum that killed 3000 of our citizens whose only crime was to show up for work on 9/11 is disgusting and an insult to their memories and their families.
Posted by: T Francis | September 1, 2009, 2:19 pm 2:19 pm
I agree with ddg, a criminal is a criminal and no one is above the law! Should Attorney General Eric Holder have appointed a special prosecutor to investigate interrogation techniques used by the CIA? My answer is YES if the international law of the Geneva Convention means nothing then there should be no penalty for killing a CIA agent or hanging the people of the BUSH administration or the whole lot of them for their crimes, after all they are technically war criminals. Where suppose to be a country of values or the land of democracy, how can we tell the world do as we say, don’t do as we do?
Posted by: Louie | September 1, 2009, 4:10 pm 4:10 pm