Video: Giuliani On Waterboarding

Finally! Thanks to MSNBC's Morning Joe, we get to hear what former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani thinks of the debate surrounding waterboarding of terror suspects during the Bush administration. Giuliani first said, "Sometimes I think people get so preoccupied and obsessed with the rights of terrorist that they forget" about the need for getting information from the suspects.

And then, when the possibility that waterboarding becomes a recruiting tool for future terorrists, Giuliani gave his insights, "One of the great fallacies is that Islamic terrorist are particularly impressed by the way we conduct our interviews. They couldn't give a darn. I've been investigating them since the late 1960's, early 1970s They are single-minded, they have their own objectives in mind. We can be as nice to them, we can be as bad to them—they don't recruit based on that. They recruit on the basis of their hatred of the West... Their hatred of women... Their hatred of the modern world. I've read thousands and thousands of pages of documents and I've never heard am Islamic terrorist say, 'Hey I became a terrorist because they waterboarded some other terrorist.'"

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Giuliani also presented the scenario of an attack and having a suspect who knows about five other cities being bombed—"you're gonna tell me you're gonna take that technique away?"

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By Jen Chung in News on May 19, 2009 11:13 AM

Comments [rss]

Jerky

"Giuliani also presented the scenario of an attack and having a suspect who knows about five other cities being bombed"

Hmmm, for all his investigating, he apparently knows very little about Islamic terrorism, especially Al Qaeda. Their whole point of operating individual cells, unknown to one another, yet in coordinated attacks, IS SO THAT SUCH A SCENARIO IS IMPOSSIBLE.

Guiliani never was the brightest bulb....

ANGRYGOD11

Jesse Ventura put it plainly: What if the terrorists were Americans in America? Do you torture them?

It so easy to suggest torture when they don't look or speak like us in someplace far away.

NannyState

We've all been nails-down-a-chalkboarded by this prick.

Spirit of 76

Holy cow, but that first picture is seriously, freakishly terrifying.

hotstepper

his inner troll was trying to escape.

Felix Hoenikker

"They recruit on the basis of their hatred of the West... Their hatred of women... Their hatred of the modern world."

Our mistake was to forget that their hatred of *each other* usually surpasses those, until we took sides and mired ourselves there.

jaycjay

"I've read thousands and thousands of pages of documents and I've never heard am Islamic terrorist say, 'Hey I became a terrorist because they waterboarded some other terrorist.'"

OK, I'll give him that. There may be no "documents" with those exact words. But has he read any of the documented reports of detainees saying that Abu Ghraib was what convinced them to take up arms?

"Giuliani also presented the scenario of an attack and having a suspect who knows about five other cities being bombed"

Has he read any documents saying that has ever happened? No. So how is that his position can be supported by hypothetical situations, but the opposing position must be supported by "documents"?

jt10000

It's scary how some politicians are so eager to just forget about the rule of law.

S.D.

Exactly.

I also like how they often say it's NOT torture but "Enhanced Interrogation"...

S__T is still S__T no matter what you label it.

Snoopy

The guy in the picture looks familiar. Where do I know him from? Divorce court? Is he that Yankee fan that I saw behind home plate at a lot of home games? Help me out here.

Huffy6241

I wonder if there is a word for douche in Arabic?

farleft

Yes...It's "Giulihummusani"

I'm an Arab, I know these things.

FYI, "FalafaBush" is deep fried Rumsfeld scrotum.

hotstepper

"Giuliani also presented the scenario of an attack and having a suspect who knows about five other cities being bombed"

obviously rudy has been watching too much Die Hard lately.

Politburo

It seems as if it's impossible for any torture defender to make an argument that isn't the mythical 'ticking time bomb'.

Nice screen cap.

nycviabos

Subject. Verb. 9/11.

tmz is evil

LOL.

WesleySnipesAlot

FFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKK my brain hurts now

S.D.

Nice how they attack a Veteran. Guess it's OK when they do it.

"I've been investigating them since the late 1960's, early 1970s"?

Surrre you have...

So if it's "effective", just do it? Why stop at Water Boarding? Wouldn't pulling finger nails be "effective" too? The threat of Gouging Eyeballs might be "effective"...

This is America. We DON'T Torture and Reality is not the "24" TV show...

I thought Jesse Ventura's exchange was good too.

Papercutninja

Did you ACTUALLY just say that Jesse Ventura's exchange was good? Wow. I'm not on Hasselback's side ever, but Jesse is a bit of a kook.