Karl Rove Says He's "Proud" of Waterboarding, Interrogation Tactics

By: Stephanie Condon
Topics: Republicans

(Credit: AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)

President Bush's senior political adviser Karl Rove said in an interview this week he is proud that the United States used waterboarding in its efforts to prevent terrorist attacks and that the extreme interrogation method is not torture. Speaking to the BBC, Rove also said, however, that reasonable people may disagree about whether it is torture.

"I'm proud that we used techniques that broke the will of these terrorists and gave us valuable information that allowed us to foil plots such as flying airplanes into Heathrow and into London, bringing down aircraft over the Pacific, flying an airplane into the tallest building in Los Angeles and other plots," Rove said. "Yes, I'm proud that we kept the world safer than it was, by the use of these techniques. They're appropriate, they're in conformity with our international requirements and with U.S. law."

When pressed on whether waterboarding is torture, Rove said unequivocally, "No, it's not." He added that "reasonable people can disagree... This isn't something about which we can argue. It is not a situation of black and white."

The BBC asked Rove about an assertion from the former head of MI5, the Britain intelligence service, who said that former President Bush and his advisers were inspired by the Fox television show "24" to pursue a "war on terror."

"That's laughable," Rove said. "I know President Bush, he doesn't watch television much except for sporting events; same with Secretary [of Defense Donald] Rumsfeld. While Vice President Cheney was a fan of '24,' he is fully capable of distinguishing between fact and fiction."

Rove has made media appearances recently to promote his new book.

Stephanie Condon
Stephanie Condon is a political reporter for CBSNews.com.
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by Gil_Bates March 15, 2010 12:58 PM EDT: Hmmm. So I see that you were one of those rare students with the ability to survive the "liberal indoctrination", and somehow escaped it unscathed. Not for a lack of effort by all those instructors, I'm sure...

Not everyone is cut out for college, and even some of those that are still have to drop-out for various reasons. So it may not really be your own fault, Leaderless.; Reply to this comment

by Gil_Bates March 13, 2010 2:14 PM EST

You know, it's sorta funny. The more education you have, the more likely you are to be at least somewhat "liberal". There are, of course, exceptions to every rule (many MDs are conservatives, just for one example). But generally speaking, having more education means you are less likely to be "a conservative" - regardless of what that label may mean to you personally (political, social, fiscal, or "all of the above").

What always really gets me laughing, though, is when I hear a certain type of conservative (Limbaugh comes immediately to mind) denigrate colleges and universities as "damn bastions of liberalism", or something similar. Some of those folks apparently think that simply attending an institution of higher learning makes people liberal, or that liberal people just naturally tend to flock there, for some unspecified reason. Others truly think that universities simply "brain-wash" students straight into the liberal void. It never seems to cross these guy's minds, publicly anyway, that the broad-based education and in-depth knowledge that students receive might just have a little something to do with their eventual beliefs, political or otherwise.

There is simply no point in arguing with folks who resist education. The only real hope is to educate them, but they want none of THAT, by definition. "Ignorance" is the enemy of most progressives; conservatives instead act like it is their DUTY. Duty to God, to country, to party, or whatever it is that motivates them.

The truth may be inconvenient to your goals. But that doesn't mean it isn't the truth.

"Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son." I have listened to Rush, Beck, Rove and many others. They appear to me to have no clue at all. They may really THINK they do, and/or that their opinions are "expert", or maybe they're really just trying to sell books or get the ratings. It just doesn't matter to me. They are still wrong, either way.

A better education would probably have helped them, but they are making tons of money as it is, so I'm sure they would disagree...

I don't know whether to laugh, or cry.

Reply to this comment


by Leaderless March 14, 2010 5:53 PM EDT: You know what's funny, most liberal fancies themselves that they know better than the rest.
During my undergrad years, outside of the technical courses, we have to put up with a lot of radical professors who likes to indoctrinate us to their way of thinking. Not so much in the grad years thank goodness.
We all see obama and his cronies in action. Saying that they are clueless is giving them too much credit.


by steverino1094 March 13, 2010 12:34 PM EST: muffman69 take the thighs out of your ears. If you are captured by al-queda or taliban in Afghanistan do you think they will peacefully question you. NO. They will probably cut your head off and send the video to your mother!; Reply to this comment


by muffman69 March 13, 2010 10:03 AM EST: Why aren't Rove, Cheney, and W in jail?

They drove this country into a hole that will take years to recover. They disgraced us throughout the world, they created even more enemies to our country, and Rove is proud?

What an idiot.; Reply to this comment

by erb0087 March 12, 2010 10:00 PM EST

"David Petraeus' intellectual qualifications are impressive. He should have been leading the Iraq conflict from the beginning, rather than repulsive limp-wrists like Paul Wolfowitz."

After Iraq, Wolfowitz went to the World Bank, where he was caught in unethical shenanigans with his Muslim mistress and got booted out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=By0Uz-hf06g

Reply to this comment


by Leaderless March 13, 2010 12:11 AM EST: Only your dim-witted dear leader had the arrogant plus foolish audacity to go agaisnt general Patraeus recommendation. obama had to grudgingly eat his words after overwhelming evidence stacked against him. That's why we always question baracks judgment, or lack there of.
obama worshipers even mount a smear campaign to disparage the general good name. How patriotic!
If you think Karl Rove, Dick Cheney and George Bush are inferior to general Patraeus then barack must be fully embedded in the short bus.
And you also manage to insult overweight people in the country. Oprah, Aretha Franklin, robert gibbs, michele obama are really mad if they see your comment.
Could you explain how's Karl Rove contribute to the spiraling cost of health care in this country? Are we paying for his medical care?
Bill Gates drop out of college too, guess he will never amount to anything......


by Leaderless March 13, 2010 12:18 PM EST: Vet_Turner, saddam was a menace and needed to be remove. He violated numerous UN resolutions, committed human rights abuses, carried out genocide with WMD......
obama either like this tyrant or cowering by him or maybe both.....who knows what he was thinking but the world is better off without saddam.
Thanks to the surge that he opposes, Iraq turned the corner and we can begin to draw down our forces. barack is more than happy to take the credit, he got a history of accepting things that he doesn't deserved...does the NPP rings a bell?
The only one obfuscates is you. Blindly following and worshiping barack doesn't do anyone any favor.....well, except for barack....


by erb0087 March 12, 2010 9:53 PM EST: "Obama was wrong about the Surge, and finally admitted it."

Yes he did. Finally.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Udt92OwPOgs; Reply to this comment


by erb0087 March 12, 2010 9:45 PM EST: General Petraeus is one of the best educated, most intellectual people in America, military or civilian.

How many other people have earned a Princeton PhD ?

Karl Rove didn't even finish college. He was never really qualified for anything but manual labor anyway, and if he had pursued an honest career in heavy physical toil, he wouldn't be so fat and repusivley pudgy today. People like Rove contribute to the spiraling cost of health care in this country.

David Petraeus' intellectual qualifications are impressive. He should have been leading the Iraq conflict from the beginning, rather than repulsive limp-wrists like Paul Wolfowitz.

"Petraeus graduated from West Point in 1974. He earned the General George C. Marshall Award as the top graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College Class of 1983 at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He subsequently earned a M.P.A. in 1985 and a Ph.D. in international relations in 1987 from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, then served as an Assistant Professor of International Relations at the U.S. Military Academy from 1985 to 1987. His doctoral dissertation, "The American Military and the Lessons of Vietnam: A Study of Military Influence and the Use of Force in the Post-Vietnam Era," dealt with the influence of the Vietnam War on military thinking regarding the use of force. He also completed a military fellowship at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service in 1994-1995, although he was called away early to serve in Haiti as the Chief of Operations for the UN force there in early 1995.

From late 2005 through February 2007, Petraeus served as Commanding General of Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center (CAC) located there. As commander of CAC, Petraeus was responsible for oversight of the Command and General Staff College and seventeen other schools, centers, and training programs as well as for developing the Army's doctrinal manuals, training the Army's officers, and supervising the Army's center for the collection and dissemination of lessons learned. During his time at CAC, Petraeus and Marine Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis jointly oversaw the publication of Field Manual 3-24, Counterinsurgency, the body of which was written by an extraordinarily diverse group of military officers, academics, human rights advocates, and journalists who had been assembled by Petraeus and Mattis. Additionally, at both Fort Leavenworth and throughout the military's schools and training programs, Petraeus integrated the study of counterinsurgency into lesson plans and training exercises. In recognition of the fact that soldiers in Iraq often performed duties far different than those they trained for, Petraeus also stressed the importance of teaching soldiers how to think as well as how to fight and the need to foster flexibility and adaptability in leaders, he has been called "the world's leading expert in counter-insurgency warfare". Later, having refined his ideas on counterinsurgency based on the implementation of the new COIN doctrine in Iraq, he published both in Iraq as well as in the Sep/Oct 2008 edition of Military Review his "Commander's Counterinsurgency Guidance" to help guide leaders and units in the Multi-National Force-Iraq."; Reply to this comment


by erb0087 March 12, 2010 9:35 PM EST: Karl Rove, Dick Cheney and George Bush -- collectively, extremely inferior to Patraeus [sic] when it comes to war experience, combat experience, executive experience, education, leading our troops in fierce combat, war planning....

They arrogantly think they know more about torture than he does, or whether it keeps America safe ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylsRqsiATXs; Reply to this comment


by erb0087 March 12, 2010 9:30 PM EST: by Leaderless March 12, 2010 8:13 PM EST
erb087, lets review shall we.
barack hussein obama, extremely inferior to Patraeus when it comes to war experience, combat experience, executive experience, education, leading our troops in fierce combat, war planning....just to mention a few, arrogantly decided that he knows better and oppose the surge.
============================================

There's nothing to review.

Obama was wrong about the Surge, and finally admitted it.

In America, under our system, the military is under civilian control, even if the civilians are fallible human beings.

We don't want to live in a society ruled by a military junta, like Greece during the Rule of the Colonels, or in Tojo's Japan, where the Emperor was a figurehead and the military was calling the shots.; Reply to this comment

by erb0087 March 12, 2010 9:21 PM EST

What do Conservatives tell us ?

That the Constitution was written to limit the Federal Government.

"Amendment 8 - Cruel and Unusual Punishment. Ratified 12/15/1791.

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted."

It doesn't say that this only applies to the Government's treatment of some "Master Race" of American Citizens only.

It says the Government is limited in what it can do.

The Federal Government cannot torture anybody, for any reason.

Reply to this comment


by erb0087 March 12, 2010 9:24 PM EST: In the other Founding Document, the Declaration of Independence, it is explicitly stated that the entire human tacev is endowed with "unalienable rights."

There is no hint there, or in the Constitution, that American citizens are some kind of "Master Race" with rights and freedoms the rest of Mankind doesn't have.