4um: Matt Lauer goes after Bush over secret prisons and torture

Matt Lauer went after Bush over his secret prisons and the use of torture on the captured terrorists via The Today Show this morning. He was uncommonly strong and didn’t back down when Bush gave his pet answer. He hits the right note because if what we’ve been doing is legal then why was there the need for secret prisons? When Bush gets cornered–he starts saying he’s not going to talk about it anymore…(Glenn Greenwald has a post up now about John Yoo–Bush’s torture man.)

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Matt Lauer: And yet you admitted that there were these CIA secret facilities. OK?

President Bush: So what? Why is that not within the law?

Matt Lauer: The head of Amnesty International says secret sites are against international law.

President Bush: Well, we just disagree with him. Plus, my job is to protect you. And most American people, if I said [to them] that we had who we think is the mastermind of the 9/11, they would say, “Why don’t you see if you can’t get information without torturing him,” which is what we did.

Matt Lauer: I don’t want to let this “within the law issue” slip though. I mean, if, in fact, there was water boarding used with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and for the viewers, that’s basically when you strap someone to a board and you make them feel as if they’re going to drown by putting them underwater, if that was legal and within the law, why couldn’t you do it at Guantanamo? Why did you have to go to a secret location around the world?

President Bush: I’m not going to talk about techniques. And, I’m not going explain to the enemy what we’re doing. All I’m telling you is that you’ve asked me whether or not we’re doing things to protect the American people, and I want the American people to know we are doing so.

That's the most I've seen someone invade bushs space. Looked like they were going to slug it out. Go Matt!!!

Dunno.. but if you watched this .. Bush sure wasnt interested in answering any questions re the torture.. he didnt want to let the terrorists know what was going on.. dear gawd .. waterboarding? Which is the least of it. This is so fricking SICK!

NKVD, Stasi, The Berlin Wall, and the Gestapo - Created in the name of "protecting the people."

I heard that Olbermann gave a great response to Bush's speech tonight, even used the "I" word.

Yep, and that 10 year embargo then liberation of Iraq was for the Iraqi children.

"If there’s another 9/11 or a major war in the Middle-East involving a U.S. attack on Iran, I have no doubt that there will be, the day after or within days an equivalent of a Reichstag fire decree that will involve massive detentions in this country."

And when our troops are in the hands of the enemy and they do unto us what we have done unto them, that's OK with you, because no one you know and love is in a uniform.

And when the American people finally realize which group of people really masterminded 9/11, it's ok with you to torture the whole group until we find the real leader.

I don't see how anyone can look at nor listen to that bonafide jackass liar in chief of ours. I can't stand to do it........I want to smash the screen, whether its the big tube or my flat screen monitor!

I loathe, despise, and detest liars.........did when clinton was liar in chief, and i feel the same way with this sonofabitch..........and he is that, too. Anyone doubting that can ask me about that one, too.

Twice, he made a pointed reply to Matt about "protecting" his family. I'd be more apt to get my family out of the country and such "protection" Immediately.

OH I see him as FAR worse.. Clinton lied about a blowjob.. GW is lying about blowing people up!

lol...that was scary..threatening..and his maniacal affectation was quite disturbing.

And no doubt that 'lawyer' is his little brown=skinned 'i don't know for sure if they were legal or not' a/g of his. The one that doesn't believe that our phone records and calls fall under our believing they should be private matters! The same rotten bastard that doesn't think geneva convention laws apply to us.

If these dirty, rotten lowdown scumbags were so sure of the rightness of their cause, they wouldn't give a tinkers' damn about being giving immunity for any international laws they break, nor our soldiers, either.

It was entertaining yesterday watching Russert throw Cheney's old lies back in his face, but I ended up screaming at the TV when Cheney cut loose with new ones.

Oh....you must be one of 'those' that happen to think the liar in chief should be upholding the oath he took to protect and defend the Constitution? That piece of toilet paper?

one of these days, he is gonna just haul off and slug some in your face reporter.

He is the personification of EVIL in my book. Clinton was rotten, but the liar in chief is EVIL.

He was sure trying to intimidate matt into backing off or down. I kept thinking Matt won't get another request for interview honored.

Exactly. Exactly the reason I turned on alan keyes.......he and ol dirtyshits agreeing that torture was fine, but some gnat's ass minute difference on some asisinine detail.

I am sure you can count on that. The Bush family"remembers". The citizens should as well.