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White House Press Briefing by Dana Perino 4/23/08 (Helen and Torture)
— Wednesday, April 23, 2008 — MS. PERINO: Helen. Q The President has said publicly several times, in two consecutive news conferences a few months ago, and you have said over and over again, we do not torture. Now he has admitted that he did sign off on torture, he did know about it. So how do you reconcile this credibility gap? MS. PERINO: Helen, you're taking liberties with the what the President said. The United States has not, is not torturing any detainees in the global war on terror. And General Hayden, amongst others, have spoken on Capitol Hill fully in this regard, and it is -- I'll leave it where it is. The President is accurate in saying what he said. Q That's not my question. My question is, why did he state publicly, we do not torture -- MS. PERINO: Because we do not. Q -- when he really did know that we do? MS. PERINO: No, that's what I mean, Helen. We've talked about the legal authorities -- Q Are you saying that we did not? MS. PERINO: I am saying we did not, yes. Q How can you when you have photographs and everything else? I mean, how can you say that when he admits that he knew about it? MS. PERINO: Helen, I think that you're -- again, I think you're conflating some issues and you're misconstruing what the President said. Q I'm asking for the credibility of this country, not just this administration. MS. PERINO: And what I'm telling you is we have -- torture has not occurred. And you can go back through all the public record. Just make sure -- I would just respectfully ask you not to misconstrue what the President said. Q You're denying, in this room, that we torture and we have tortured? MS. PERINO: Yes, I am denying that. Dana Perino | Helen | Interrogation | President Bush | Press Briefing | War on Terror | White House Press Corps Labels: Dana Perino, Helen, Interrogation, President Bush, Press Briefing, War on Terror, White House Press Corps
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 4:03 PM  White House Press Briefing by Dana Perino 10/4/07 (Secret Interrogation Memos) — Thursday, October 04, 2007 — MS. PERINO: Deb? Q Just generally, does the administration -- does the President believe that head-slapping and simulated drowning are necessary tactics to use against suspected terrorists to keep America safe? MS. PERINO: Let me take a step back. In the days after 9/11, when we were getting a steady stream of intelligence about potential new attacks, the President faced a lot of challenges. And he asked his national security team to make sure that we designed and made sure that within the laws we had all the tools that we needed in order to keep this country safe and to prevent another attack. In this new war, which is an unprecedented war, facing an enemy unlike we've ever faced before, sometimes -- oftentimes the best information that you get is from the terrorists themselves. They know where the other terrorists are hiding and what the other terrorists are planning. And to win the war on terror we must be able to detain them, interrogate them, question them, and when appropriate, prosecute them -- in America -- when we capture them here in America and on battlefields around the world. The policy of the United States is not to torture. The President has not authorized it, he will not authorize it. But he had done everything within the corners of the law to make sure that we prevent another attack on this country, which is what we have done in this administration. I am not going to comment on any specific alleged techniques. It is not appropriate for me to do so. And to do so would provide the enemy with more information for how to train against these techniques. And so I am going to decline to comment on those, but I will reiterate to you once again that we do not torture. We want to make sure that we keep this country safe. And I think another thing that everyone should keep in mind is that here in this country, it's quite a testament that even though we have a sworn enemy of the United States that has declared war on us and has acted upon that and killed thousands of our own citizens here just seven -- six years ago, we are still having a debate to talk about how we should make sure that we treat people, and that we don't torture them. That is quite a testament to this country. And the President is very proud to lead it. Q Some of the members of Congress are already upset that they weren't aware of these second memos that are classified, and have asked for the administration to release them. What's the administration's position on why a briefing was released about what they are about? MS. PERINO: Well -- I would have to refer you to Department of Justice and also the Central Intelligence Agency. As I understand it, appropriate members of Congress have been briefed. Releasing classified information is not prudent, it is not a smart thing to do. So I -- let me refer you to them to talk about the procedures that they went through to talk to members of Congress. Dana Perino | Interrogation | Press Briefing | War on Terror | White House Press Corps Labels: Dana Perino, Interrogation, Press Briefing, War on Terror, White House Press Corps
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 6:55 PM
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