Former President Bill Clinton said he does not believe the United States is in greater danger because of this week’s release of a Senate report detailing the CIA’s post-9/11 techniques in handling terror suspects.
“I actually believe that when you release a report like this, you show a side of America that — you show that some things happen that we don’t like,” he said in an interview with Fusion’s Jorge Ramos. “But you also show that we believe, instead of putting these problems under the rug and hiding them, it’s better to come out and say, ’OK, this is what happened, now let’s talk about how we can fix it, how we can make it better.’ “
Many critics of the report’s release have said it will serve to embolden enemies of the United States and create a chilling effect among America’s allies who will be more hesitant to assist the U.S. in such future operations.
“Now, the decision to go into Iraq is a whole different deal,” Mr. Clinton said. “That’s been litigated — you either agree with it or you don’t, and I think we’re still paying for it today.”
The decision to go into Iraq played a huge role in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary between President Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, then U.S. senators.
Mrs. Clinton, who supported the war then and defended her vote on the trail in 2008, wrote in her most recent book that she got it wrong.
“But what I hope will happen is that we will keep pushing on this, find out exactly what happened, give anybody who disagrees the chance to have their say, and then do what we should always do in cases like this: Say what our policy’s going to be and stick with it and have it consistent with international law,” Mr. Clinton continued. “I do not think we are more in danger because of this.”
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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