Mitt Romney had a few uncomfortable, deer-in-the-headlights moments in last night’s CNN/YouTube debate, but perhaps the most memorable was in response to a question from a young man in Seattle: “Recently, Senator McCain has come strongly against using waterboarding as an instrument of interrogation. My question for the rest of you is, considering that Mr. McCain is the only one with any firsthand knowledge on the subject, how can those of you sharing the stage with him disagree with his position?”
Romney tried to thread the needle, approximating a Bush impression, saying he would oppose torture, but didn’t want to “describe precisely what techniques we will use in interrogating people.” CNN’s Anderson Cooper tried to clarify matters a bit, asking the former governor if he believes waterboarding is, in fact, torture. Romney hedged again, but sounded like he would utilize the torture technique if elected.
“[B]y the way, I want to make sure these folks are kept at Guantanamo. I don’t want the people that are carrying out attacks in this country to be brought into our jail system and to be given legal representation in this country. I want to make sure that — that what happened to — (applause) — to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed happens to other people who are terrorists.”
Cooper noted that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded, and directed the question to McCain, who explained that the procedure is “in violation of the Geneva Conventions” and “in violation of existing law.”
McCain added that Romney should “talk to retired military officers and active duty military officers.” The former governor responded:
“I’m not going to specify the specific means of what is and what is not torture so that the people that we capture will know what things we’re able to do and what things we’re not able to do…. I get that advice from Cofer Black, who is a person who was responsible for counterterrorism in the CIA for some 35 years.”
And if Cofer Black’s name sounds familiar to you, there’s a good reason. He is the former head of the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center, but he’s also a whole lot more.
As Mark Benjamin explained:
[Black] was in charge [of the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center] after 9/11, when the agency set up its network of secret prisons where “enhanced” interrogation techniques — including waterboarding — were allegedly carried out. Black is the guy who famously (or infamously) told Congress in September 2002, “There was a before 9/11, and there was an after 9/11. After 9/11 the gloves come off.”
Oh, and in case you were wondering about Romney’s judgment in asking for advice, Black is also vice chairman of Blackwater USA.
Amanda added:
Romney is also relying on a man for torture advice who in 2001, infamously ordered a CIA agent to “Capture Bin Laden, kill him and bring his head back in a box on dry ice,” and once promised put the “heads” of terrorists in Afghanistan “on sticks”:
“We’re going to kill them,” CIA counterterrorism official Cofer Black said, according to the book, which details the Bush administration’s build-up to the Iraq war. “We’re going to put their heads on sticks. When we’re through with them they will have flies walking across their eyeballs.”
And this is the guy serving as Romney’s senior adviser for counterterrorism and national security issues, and who apparently will join Romney in the White House if elected.
Good to know.