Free Republic

When asked if we should bring back enhanced interrogation like waterboarding Trump said, “We have to be strong. They don’t use waterboarding, they used chopping off peoples heads. They use drowning people. I don’t know if you have seen with the cages, where they put people in cages and they drown them in the ocean and they lift out the cage, and we are taking about waterboarding … I would bring it back, yes, I would bring it back. I think waterboarding is peanuts compared to what they’re doing us. What they did to James Foley, when they chopped off...

Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, a former Air Force pilot who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, said on Thursday that Donald Trump is openly advocating war crimes that would cause the soldiers who obeyed his orders to be jailed. “If you’re a private in the field and your major or your colonel orders you to do something that is a war crime, you actually bear responsibility, you can’t say that the colonel made me do it,” said Kinzinger, who is supporting Marco Rubio. “What Donald Trump, as wanting to be president of the United States is advocating, is a war...

As New Hampshire voters headed to the polls Tuesday, Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump downplayed his use of a crude insult the day before. "It was like a retweet," Trump said during an interview on "Fox & Friends." "I would never say a word like that," he further insisted. At a Monday-night rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, Trump told his supporters he was surprised Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) was not more supportive of waterboarding. An audience member apparently shouted out the vulgar insult, which Trump repeated from the stage while jokingly "reprimanding" his supporter for saying such a "terrible" thing....

Donald Trump said Sunday he would "go through a process" to end waterboarding's status as a war crime in order to use it against ISIS if he is elected president. "I'd go through a process and get it declassified frankly ... certainly waterboarding at a minimum," Trump told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union." "They're chopping off heads of Christians and many other people in the Middle East. They're chopping heads off, they laugh at us when they hear we're not going to approve waterboarding and then they'll have a James Foley and others where they cut off...

Liz Cheney said Sunday that some of the stories in print about her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, were "fantasies" cooked up by some of his old Bush administration rivals. Responding to a question about Dick Cheney's role in pushing for aggressive interrogations, Liz Cheney pointed to Lawrence Wilkerson, the chief of staff to then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, for spreading inaccurate information about her father. Wilkerson "has made a cottage industry of fantasies about the vice president," she said on ABC's "This Week." "It's important to look at the source" of media reports, Cheney said. "Nobody talking about...

If Republicans on Tuesday win the majority of seats in the House, that body's intelligence panel is likely to give fresh oversight of the Obama administration's prosecution review of the CIA's enhanced interrogation program. Rep. Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, the highest-ranking Republican on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, told The Washington Times last week that he would expect the next Republican chairman of the committee to hold hearings on how the threat of prosecutions has affected the CIA's morale. "I expect vigorous oversight of this administration now," Mr. Hoekstra said. "What has been the impact of [Attorney General...

ring back enhanced interrogation like waterboarding? TRUMP: Well, we have to be strong. You know, they don’t use waterboarding over there; they use chopping off people’s heads. They use drowning people. I don’t know if you’ve seen with the cages where they put people in cages and they drown them in the ocean and they lift out the cage. And we’re talking about waterboarding. We have to be tough -- STEPHANOPOULOS: So you’d bring back waterboarding? TRUMP: We have -- I would bring it back, yes. I would bring it back. I think waterboarding is peanuts compared to what they’d...

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump said Monday he not only would bring back waterboarding, the controversial interrogation technique discontinued by the Obama administration, but also would "approve more than that," even if such tactics prove ineffective. "Would I approve waterboarding? You bet your ass I would -- in a heartbeat," Trump said to loud cheers during a rally at a convention center here Monday night that attracted thousands. "And I would approve more than that. Don't kid yourself, folks. It works, okay? It works. Only a stupid person would say it doesn't work." Trump said such techniques are needed to...

Simmons is accused of falsely claiming that he worked as an "outside paramilitary special operations officer" for the CIA from 1973 to 2000. On Fox, this was often shortened to "former CIA operative." He was also indicted for using that false claim to gain government security clearances and an assignment as a defense contractor, where he advised senior military personnel overseas...If convicted, he could face up to 35 years in prison...Fox's web site lists dozens of appearances and quotes, usually labeling him a former CIA "operative," "analyst" or "officer."...The U.S. Attorney's Office said that along with the CIA-related fraud, "the...

A Senate Judiciary Subcmte. looks into the legal conduct of Justice Dept. lawyers who approved harsh interrogation techniques. One of the witnesses, fmr. FBI agent Ali Soufan, interrogated Guantanamo detainee Abu Zubaydah.

Dianne Feinstein of California arguably used to be the CIA's best friend on the Democratic side of the Senate. I think it's fair to say that San Francisco voters were not enthusiastic about her pro-intelligence posture during the George W. Bush presidency. One thing DiFi has going for her, though, is that it's hard even for critics to not crack a smile at her famously idiosyncratic stubborn streak. She's old-school. She makes up her mind and digs in deep. And then something else sticks in her craw. As Senate Select Committee on Intelligence chairwoman during President Barack Obama's first six...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) is the only major Republican likely 2016 presidential candidate who hasn't weighed in on the controversy over Indiana's "religious freedom" law that erupted this week — and his explanation for avoiding the issue is questionable.

California governor Jerry Brown said, "Yes, I would" run for president if I were ten years younger. He made the remarks this morning to NBC: Video at source

The Justice Department on Monday charged a former CIA officer with repeatedly leaking classified information, including the identities of agency operatives involved in the capture and interrogation of alleged terrorists. The case against John Kiriakou, who served as a senior Senate aide after ending his CIA career, extends the Obama administration’s unprecedented crackdown on disclosures of national security secrets to journalist. Kiriakou, who was among the first to go public with details about the CIA’s use of water-boarding and other harsh interrogation measures, was charged with disclosing classified information to reporters and lying to the agency about the origin of...

llow Americans and People of France, First, allow me to express my deepest sympathies at the tragedy that struck the people of France on Wednesday, January 7th, and then on Friday, January 9th. Seventeen families are now without sons, daughters, parents, brothers and sisters, and we in the U.S. and its Congress join the people of France in mourning and unity. Freedom of speech was also attacked on January 7th by cowards who lack the maturity and tolerance to allow anything they find sacrilegious to be said. These attackers in Paris were Islamic extremists, which leaves them on a unfortunately...

At the beginning of the year, Noah wrote what turned out to be a tragically prescient post about “that other Islamic State” which has been running roughshod over Christians and random civilians in Africa. Speaking of Boko Haram, Noah warned of the following: Recently, the group has adopted a troubling shift in tactics. Boko Haram has pivoted from primarily terrorizing the local population to executing coordinated, military-style raids on Nigerian outposts and using civilian suicide bombers to target populated areas.This campaign is making headway. During that same period, while the eyes of the world were turning more toward Europe...

A key senator said Sunday she believes there are terrorist sleeper cells in the U.S. that could carry out attacks similar to the ones in France that left 17 people dead last week. Sen Dianne Feinstein, California Democrat and vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, did not comment on specific threats against America but said other attacks are possible.

The Amazing Kreskin wants to read de Blasio’s mind The Amazing Kreskin will celebrate his 80th birthday with a star- studded bash at City Crab on Monday, and Bill de Blasio is invited. But if the mayor shows, “I will read his thoughts in public, in front of the audience,” offered the mentalist, who admits he’s at odds with de Blasio over his crusade to ban horse carriages. “I only have one fear — I may draw a blank,” Kreskin cracked of de Blasio’s brain.

In a new poll of likely Republican primary voters nationwide by Zogby Analytics, 2012 GOP nominee Romney leads the pack with 14%, followed by former Florida Governor Jeb Bush (12%), Kentucky Senator Rand Paul (10%), New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (8%), former Arkansas Governor and now Fox News Host Mike Huckabee (7%), Florida Senator Marco Rubio (7%), Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (5%), Rep. and former Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan (4%), Texas Governor Rick Perry (4%), Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal (3%), Texas Senator Ted Cruz (3%), South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley (2%), former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum (1%), and both...

Bay of Pigs Survivors On US-Cuba Thaw: 'Two American Presidents Betrayed Us' Richard Luscombe 23 December 2014. It was presented to the world as a tearing down of barriers, a historic moment of reconciliation between the United States and Cuba’s communist government after half a century of hostility. But inside a small villa a stone’s throw from Calle Ocho in the heart of Miami’s Little Havana neighbourhood the talk is only of one word – betrayal. The house is the Bay of Pigs museum and library where the ageing survivors of Brigade 2506, the CIA-trained fighting unit that failed to...