Bush Defends Torture: "The Information We Got Saved Lives"

BENTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Flying on Air Force One, eating meals prepared by the White House kitchen staff and drawing inspiration from his encounters with U.S. military personnel were among things former President George W. Bush missed since leaving office, he said Thursday.

The often-tearful meetings he had with relatives of fallen soldiers were "in some ways... very hard and in some ways, it was very uplifting," the Texas Republican said in a speech to The Economic Club of Southwestern Michigan at Lake Michigan College.

About eight people protested Bush's appearance outside the venue, carrying signs that called him a murderer and a traitor. The speech Thursday was one of the first made by the former president since leaving office in January.

Bush, the nation's 43rd president, spoke to 2,500 people about "the fog of war" that followed the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the economic downturn and his return to life as a regular citizen.

"It was a roller coaster of emotions, it really was," Bush said of the terror attacks. "I think about it now at times but I definitely thought about it every day as president."

Bush spoke broadly about his decision-making after the capture of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in March 2003.

"I vowed to take whatever steps that were necessary to protect you," Bush said.

'"The first thing you do is ask, what's legal?" he said. "What do the lawyers say is possible? I made the decision, within the law, to get information so I can say to myself, 'I've done what it takes to do my duty to protect the American people.' I can tell you that the information we got saved lives."

Story continues below

advertisement

He talked about the economy, blaming "a lack of responsible regulation" in the lending industry for the recession and said that the Federal National Mortgage Association, known as Fannie Mae, and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., or Freddie Mac, shouldn't have engaged in certain financial practices.

"I don't want to sound like a self-serving guy, but we did try to rein them in," Bush said.

He also said he believes he was right to depose Iraq president Saddam Hussein and that it may lead to the spread of democracy throughout the Middle East.

The audience, which gave Bush a warm welcome at his arrival, cheered when he said he wanted to be remembered as a president who "showed up in office with a set of principles and he was unwilling to sacrifice his soul for the sake of popularity."

Mark Brewer, chairman of the state Democratic Party, disagreed.

"I think it takes a lot of gall for him to come into Michigan without acknowledging the damage that his policies have done to the state," Brewer said. He did not offer any specifics.

In his largest domestic speech since leaving the White House in January,

Comments

[NotWaldo]

George W. Bush's presidency is the mother of all failed presidencies.

[Dayahka]

Instead of paying attention to the matter of torture, people should be looking at Bush's justifications for the practice. Here is a man who talks about standing on principles, yet who uses questionable ends to justify the means--the very opposite of what principles mean. If you stand on principles, you do not bend the principles to expediency. The really scary aspect of Bush's administration is not his use of torture, but his justifications. He also had very peculiar and scary views concerning the so-called war on terrorism, justifying the destruction of Islamic fundamentalism, and maybe all Islam, on the basis of imaginary and fictional prophecies about the end times. This whole situation goes way beyond Republican versus Democrat or conservative versus liberal; it's pure lame-brained insanity versus rationality. Bush's administration was based on pure lunacy.

[BambooHarvester]

Save it for Nuremberg !
~

[SirReal1]

There is much more at stake here than the prosecution of G.W and Dick. As alluded to by some of the other posts on this thread, but unseen by a large number of Americans, the entire Neo-Con agenda is potentially at risk.

This is why the right is engaging in a MASSIVE campaign to keep these prosecutions from moving forward!

The American people need to educate themselves on what has transpired in this country for the past 50 years.

The Neo-Cons are the embodiment of the "Military-­Industrial Complex" that President Eisenhower warned the nation about in 1958. They have been playing out their agenda for over 50 years, at the expense of the Nation and the individual lives that have been sacrificed for their benefit (profits).

The current circumstance is crucial to them, because if WE DO investigate the crimes of the Son, the crimes of the Father may be exposed to additional scrutiny, and if that happens, the crimes of Saint Ronnie might be reexamined, and from there we might be so shocked that our entire Mid-East policy for the past 50 years may come into question, and we MIGHT just be motivated to CHANGE our perspective toward the populations that we have perpetrated HORRIBLE CRIMES against in our pursuit of "cheap oil" and HUGE PROFITS for the Oil Industry.

[SirReal1]

These "investigations", if allowed to go forward all the way to their logical conclusion, might well be the end of the "grip of World Power" that has prevailed for over half a century.

Don't expect that they will allow this without a MASSIVE FIGHT. This could be a huge shift in the status of the power base of the entire planet. It WILL NOT be easily won.

You can dismiss my comments as "conspiracy theory" or "tin-foil" lunacy, but take a minute to consider "Who holds the WEALTH of the world"? Who is it that can manipulate the interactions of Nations, the markets of trade, the Elections of Presidents, Prime Ministers, Kings and Dictators?

Banks, and their leaders? "Captains of Industry"? Oil companies? Diamond, Gold, and other precious materials markets?

Wealth IS POWER, and the conflict, for most of recorded history, has been between THOSE WHO HAVE THE WEALTH, and THOSE WHO SEEK MORE POWER over their individual lives.

Do you really think that those who posses huge wealth wouldn't want ABSOLUTE POWER to increase their wealth? Do you really think that they wouldn't use EVERY ASSET AVAILABLE (religion, military might, control of essential resources [food, water, FUELS] to maintain their CONTROL?

These are the enemies of "True Democracy". If held accountable, True Democracy might emerge ALL OVER THE PLANET, and that would lead to their ultimate demise.

Better get ready for a fight.

[mike42nola]

Your scenario and accusations do make a lot of sense but you leave out a very important piece that I think is crucial to why there won't be any prosecutions and this will be allowed to die as quietly as possible.
Both parties have been the party of the majority for long periods of time during the past 50 years. Both parties are complicit in forging alliances with each other even though they want us to believe that they are extremely polarized.
This would truly be the "Mother of All Battles" because it would be between the people, us, and our government. I am not opposed to doing this because I agree with you that for the last 50 years we have been misrepresented and legislation enacted in our names has been for selfish personal gain, but again, this has been done to the extreme by both parties.
My oldest son and myself have started exploring methods and means of trying to galvanize and unite the people of this great country for the purpose of a peaceful revolution to overthrow our government. I believe that this is the only salvation that our country can receive but we cannot be red or blue, left or right, dem or repub. We must be Americans.
I would be proud and happy to have you join in our cause and help us attempt to save the Union from further damage done by the elite career politicians.

[jazeyedgirl]

YEAH!!! This is the best thing that could happen to the DEMs. Bush as an opponent!
Keep it comming bushy!!

[D-V-H]

Here is a video of how Bush saw AQ.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCI18qAoKq4

[ThomasMc]

Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld must all stand trial in the Hague for War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity!!!

[mike42nola]

You must be dreaming or delusional or smoking something really good.

[fredisfred]

No, the people who can't see that these three are guilty of committing war crimes are the delusional ones living in denial.

[D-V-H]

"The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him." --Washington, D.C., Sept. 13, 2001 - George W Bush

"I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority." --Washington, D.C., March 13, 2002 - George W Bush

Because he's hiding.
* Asked why his administration had been unable to locate and arrest Osama Bin Laden. (16 January 2005) - George W Bush

Sure Mr Bush, you were really determined to protect us and bring justice those who perpetrated THE worst attack on American soil.

[kmich718]

Very well said! He's a total fraud! Look at his academic record. He's a slacker...­.barely got by. He (by his peoples own admission) doesn't want to know about anything negative..­.. he can't handle it! Never could! Not to mention his lack of self reflection­....Little boy...go home and stay there!

[JonShank]

Well put!!! Excellent Post!!!

[Punkynsnow]

Of course they didn't want to really capture bin Laden. That would've negated their Iraq-al Queda connection as the underlying reason for invading Iraq. Their real priority was going into Iraq.

[D-V-H]

When you go to PNAC's website they laid it all out before Bush even started running. Bush has even been quoted about being a "war-chief" and all the power it would givehim to push through his domestic agenda.

[bobmarshall]

Jail? That's too easy. How about some waterboard­ing..after all it's not torture, according to both of them. Maybe they'll admit the war was not necessary, and only benefited their friends and financiers and fulfilled Bush's wish to be a wartime president.

[Punkynsnow]

Not to mention Cheney's burning desire to finish off Saddam Hussein. The fact that we didn't do that after pushing him out of Kuwait back in the early 90s infuriated Cheney. He wanted to press on into Bagdad and depose Saddam, while Powell argued that our mission, freeing Kuwait, was done.

[mike42nola]

The fact that we didn't overthrow Saddam in the early 90's infuriated a majority of Americans.

[mike42nola]

You can waterboard me, especially during the really hot days in Cuba.

[raven119]

He did it to protect me? I thought he was sworn to protect the Constitution which was there to protect me. It's nice to know that the first thing he thought about torture was "Is it legal?" He really should have thought: Is it moral or, to simplify it for him, WWJD? Just so you know, Mr. Bush, you didn't have to torture people to protect me. Cookies, it seems, work just as well.

[D-V-H]

Except Bush thinks JC would execute people.

I don't hold out much hope for any compassion in the mind of W.

[fredisfred]

Perhaps we should a mail a couple of crates of cookies to Bush's new house in Dallas. I wonder if he would get the point, or would just eat them.

[COPerez]

Might be a choking hazard, though...

[D-V-H]

Or a nice bag o' pretzels.

[kamachanda]

The latest front in the Neo-Conservative war on America is an attack on the rule of law. The rule of law was under attack during the full eight years of the Bush administration, but now they are attacking the concept. Today, in the NY Times, David Brooks wrote an opinion piece entitled The Empathy Issue. He writes that there are widely divergent interpretations of the law based on the various judicial concepts of how the world works so the rational view of this being a nation of law is "a falsehood". The conservative hope is to make the laws of this nation entirely subject to interpretation which varies the circumstances of the moment.
This is what Bush and Cheney are pushing both for their vested reasons and to diminish any restraints the self appointed elites might feel in the future. The ugliness of torturing brown people from other lands is just the tip of the iceberg, situational law will guarantee that an elite class owns the country, and (for all practical purposes) everyone in it.
The best hope for redress of these wrongs is through the courts, frankly I doubt that would suffice until Obama can get at least two new justices on the supreme court. Right now, the fix is in.

[D-V-H]

They are so used to holding the cards of power that, now that they don't them all right now, they must attack the very system they used to promote.

Seems they only like the rules when it favors them. That is hardly the definition of law and order to me.

[Punkynsnow]

The fix has been in for a long time. After all, that's how we got stuck with this guy in the first place. Had the vote recounting process in Florida not been stopped he very well have never sat behind the desk in the Oval office. As it stands, we'll never know.

[woundedduck]

He did everything he could to protect us except read PDB "Bin Laden determined to attack in U.S." Funny how that misstep never seems to make it into his speeches.

[blackhole2008]

CYA blame it on his lawyers advice.

[SworldPeas]

The "information" we got was there are NO WMD!!!

War on Iraq was the biggest Presidential blunder in history.

[JonShank]

Bush was the WORST -- PRESIDENT -- EVER!!!