"4th-Grader Questions Rice on Waterboarding"

[Clio the Leo]

By Alec MacGillis
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, May 4, 2009

Days after telling students at Stanford University that waterboarding was legal "by definition if it was authorized by the president," former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice was pressed again on the subject yesterday by a fourth-grader at a Washington school.

Rice, in her first appearance in Washington since leaving government, was at the Jewish Primary Day School of the Nation's Capital before giving an evening lecture at the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue. She held forth amiably before a few dozen students about her love of Israel, travel abroad and the importance of learning languages, then opened the floor to their questions.

The questions had been developed beforehand by students with their teachers and had not been screened by Rice.

(insert evil laugh here)

At first, they were innocuous: What was it like growing up in segregated Birmingham, Ala.? What skill did she want to be best known for?

Then Misha Lerner, a student from Bethesda, asked: What did Rice think about the things President Obama's administration was saying about the methods the Bush administration had used to get information from detainees?

Rice took the question in stride. saying that she was reluctant to criticize Obama, then getting to the heart of the matter.

"Let me just say that President Bush was very clear that he wanted to do everything he could to protect the country. After September 11, we wanted to protect the country," she said. "But he was also very clear that we would do nothing, nothing, that was against the law or against our obligations internationally. So the president was only willing to authorize policies that were legal in order to protect the country."

more...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/03/AR2009050301739.html?wprss=rss_politics?ref=fp3

[babylonsister]

1. Jeesh. Now she's lying to 4th graders? nt

[lame54]

6. Except they're too smart to believe her

[rustydog]

2. "Condie, a follow up question please"

if this "enhanced interrogations" was LEGAL as you and the GOP sound machine keep insisting, why are you afraid of an investigation?

This is America, we would have investigations, people sworn to give testimony and if anything was amiss, people would be prosecuted.
you would not have to worry about being named an enemy combatant and shipped to a foreign country to have enhanced techniques used against you. You would not have to worry about the use of "secret evidence" (evidence you are not allowed to see or rebut), or the absence of a defense attorney to argue your case.

This would be done by the book because this is America and we TRUE Americans still believe no person in this country is above or out of reach of the law.

You and Bush talked the talk for 8 years, now back it up.

[Ian David]

3. And of course, the 4th grader didn't have a follow-up question.

As usual, the 4th-Grader Estate is failing in its job.


:sarcasm:

[Clio the Leo]

4. lol, and did you see what the original question was?

(Before the student's mom and teacher suggested toning it down a bit...)

Misha's mother, Inna Lerner, said the question her son had initially come up with was even tougher: "If you would work for Obama's administration, would you push for torture?"

"They wanted him to soften it and take out the word 'torture.' But the essence of it was the same," Lerner said.

[Supersedeas]

5. As if she had no part in the decision or decision making process--Pres. Bush was very clear

he wanted to protect the country...

he was also very clear...

the president was only willing to authorize policies that were legal...(legal as defined by lawyers who wanted to interpret/change/modify/wordsmith and exclude any law to the contrary legal policies preventing the use of torture)

And Condi played a direct part in the process of intepreting/changing/modifying/wordsmithing and excluding law to the contrary to allow the use of techniques equivalent to torture.

[Tutankhamun]

7. Just think of the problems our country could have avoided

if there were a fourth grader in our press corps.

[Orsino]

8. What the hell kind of teacher lets a war criminal address *children*?

Hmmph. Bet this is Condi's last trip to school for a while. The strain of euphemism is audible here.