VIDEO: Norah O'Donnell slaps down Liz Cheney over torture, what is 'torture' & her father's role

[Amerigo Vespucci]

April 23, 2009 02:00 PM
Norah O'Donnell slaps down Liz Cheney over the use of torture, what is 'torture' and her father's role in it

By John Amato

http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/nora-odonnell



On MSNBC today, Norah O'Donnell got into a heated debate with Liz Cheney over the torture memos and what role her father had in pushing torture through. The two started shouting down one another, but Norah wouldn't back down from the bullying tactics Republicans for the most part successfully use on cable shows. Norah brings up the timeline and points out that it was her father who signed on to it earlier than most and wonders if he pushed the OLC to approve these measure. Liz Cheney tries to use the military training program, called SERE, for Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape as a justification that "enhanced methods" aren't really torture because our troops were trained in this manner and it's denigrating to them to say otherwise. Huh? Now, we're against the troops again? She also uses the yet-to-be-substantiated Republican Talking Point that we got a lot of useful intel from torturing. E-mailer Margaret writes in:

In the first place, how does Liz Cheney know we got valuable information? Did she have the same clearance as the Pres and the VP? Beyond that, her rationale for torture, not being torture, because what we do to our own service people isn't torture, is making my head

L. CHENEY: (W)hat you're doing is reading headlines and talking about direction of lawyers, which is a very different thing. And there's no assertion that that's what went on. The lawyers' opinions were sought in order to make sure that the program that the CIA ran stayed within the law. And the lawyers did a very responsible and professional job of laying out exactly what were the limits of how far we could go. And that is precisely what makes it so damaging that these memos have now been released.

O'DONNELL: Listen to yourself – listen to yourself, Liz, "how far we could go."

L. CHENEY: That's right.

O'DONNELL: How far could we go with detainees? I mean, how far could we... Torture them in order to get information?

L. CHENEY: How far – no. For how many minutes you could ask them certain kind of questions. How many... (CROSSTALK)

L. CHENEY: I'm sorry, it's very, very important point.

O'DONNELL: It's a very important point.

L. CHENEY: It is a very important point.

O'DONNELL: The Geneva Convention were established...

L. CHENEY: Norah, there is nothing...

O'DONNELL: ... to protect our men and women in the military. So that America would be a beacon in the world so when our men and women are captured overseas that they would not be tortured. We would never want our people to...

L. CHENEY: Norah, are you going to give me a chance to answer your question?

O'DONNELL: Let me finish my point.

L. CHENEY: I get your point, Norah, but the point is – no, Norah, wait a second... (CROSSTALK)

O'DONNELL: ... America no longer cares about torture?

L. CHENEY: That's not what the world is hearing, Norah. First of all... (CROSSTALK)

O'DONNELL: .. and if gets valuable information, then OK, we're for it. Is that the message they send?

L. CHENEY: Norah, that may be what you're saying, but that's not what I'm saying.

O'DONNELL: OK.

L. CHENEY: What I'm saying that is there were a series of tactics, a series of techniques that had all been done to our own people. We did not torture our own people, these techniques are not torture. The memos laid out...

O'DONNELL: Did we torture other people?

L. CHENEY: No.

O'DONNELL: You just said, we did not torture our own people.

L. CHENEY: Therefore, the tactics are not torture. We did not torture. The memos laid out the extent of exactly how far we could go before it would become torture, because it was important we not cross that line into torture.

[KharmaTrain]

1. This Is From April 23, 2009

Dow at 7880...

Little Lizzard has been laying low lately...not sure why you're posting this video.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

2. Didn't pay attention to the date...

...Crooks & Liars had it at the top of their sidebar, and sometimes they do put older clips there. C'est la vie.

[Supersedeas]

3. Our troops were provided with a 'safe' word to end the 'exercise'--were detainees

provided with a 'safe' word to end their torture?

[WinkyDink]

4. N O'D mocked Gore during the post-election, 2000, with flip-charts of his lawyers. She can go hang.

[SpiralHawk]

5. "Sneer." - xVP Dickie 'Five-Military-Deferments' Cheney (R)

"But, but, but I am a Chickenhawk Republicon, and so I get another DEFERMENT from responsibility for the torture, war profiteering, and other evil-doing I caused. We republicons just do no do the responsibility thing. Sneer."

- xVP Dickie 'Five-Military-Deferments' Cheney (R)
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/__jAui5OTsRU/Sz9lEXEpwCI/AAAAAAAAClE/p7BWO-Ox2GQ/S1600-R/Copy+of+catch_me_if_you_can.jpg

[UTUSN]

6. K&R #2 for, sometimes that Norah surprises me in a good way. n/t

[kentuck]

7. Norah can be tenacious..

when she wants to be.

I would like to see her take over that show from Chuck and Savannah. She does a better job, in my opinion.

[Javaman]

8. Liz is trying so hard to establish herself as some sort of "informed" pundit

via the coattails of her daddy.

While I loath and despise chaney, he does have a history within the government. While liz doesn't have shit.

once crash cart kicks the bucket, it will be amusing to see who hires this fraud as a "spokesperson" for a popular detergent, because that's all she will be qualified to speak about.

It's also amusing that anyone actually gets liz on their show as if liz is some sort of authority on anything.

Just goes to show you how far down the rabbit hole our press has gone when a persons only qualification and experience within the government is being the daughter of a VP.

Sad times my friends, sad times.