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Obama REALLY Doesn #39;t Like Being Asked About Deportation
"Jorge Ramos grilled President Obama tonight on immigration for flip-flopping on what he publicly said he could do regarding immigration reform. Ramos brought up past statements by Obama that...
By: The Young Turks
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Obama REALLY Doesn't Like Being Asked About Deportation - Video
President Barack Obama said Tuesday that some of the tactics described in a Senate report on harsh CIA interrogations were "brutal," ''wrong" and "counterproductive," but that releasing the information was an important step in the process of making sure that such a scenario isn't ever repeated.
"One of the things that sets us apart from other countries is that when we make mistakes, we admit them," Obama told the Spanish-language television network Telemundo.
His comments followed by hours the Democratic-controlled Senate Intelligence Committee's release of a declassified version of its long-anticipated report on CIA interrogations during the administration of Obama's predecessor, Republican George W. Bush. Obama banned use of the tactics shortly after taking office nearly six years ago.
The report concludes that the CIA deceived government officials and the public with its steadfast insistence that the tactics, employed during the period that followed the deadly 9/11 terrorist attack on the U.S., had saved lives. The report says the CIA's own records fail to back up the agency's claims.
Obama said the report makes clear that the interrogation program was created too hastily and without enough thought about potential consequences.
"The CIA set up something very fast without a lot of forethought to what the ramifications might be," he said. "That the lines of accountability that needed to be set up were not always in place, and that some of these techniques that were described were not only wrong, but also counterproductive because we know that oftentimes when somebody is being subjected to these kinds of techniques, that they're willing to say anything in order to alleviate the pain and the stress that they're feeling. And we've got better ways of doing things."
He said some of the tactics written about in the report were "brutal, and as I've said before, constituted torture, in my mind. And that's not who we are."
Obama said releasing the report was important "so that we can account for it, so that people understand precisely why I banned these practices as one of the first acts I took when I came into office, and hopefully make sure that we don't make those mistakes again."
By Sara Fischer, CNN
updated 5:55 AM EST, Wed December 10, 2014
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama defended the Senate Intelligence Committee's decision Tuesday to release a controversial torture report, arguing that while there was never a "perfect" time to release the report, it's important to publicly admit that the country made mistakes.
"One of the things that sets us apart from other countries is when we make mistakes, we admit them," Obama said in an interview with "Telemundo" on Tuesday that aired simultaneously on Univision.
"We did some things that violated who we are as a people," he added.
The report, which details the CIA's extreme interrogation techniques used on terrorists after the September 11th attacks, was released by the Senate Intelligence Committee despite a last-minute pleas from Secretary of State John Kerry and members of Congress not to release the information to the public at this time, fearing that its release could spark global attacks against Americans.
While the President acknowledged those concerns, he said his administration has taken precautionary measures around the world to prepare for any type of global reaction.
Earlier Tuesday, the CIA Director John Brennan defended the techniques outlined in the report, saying that the interrogations "did produce intelligence that helped thwart attack plans, capture terrorists and save lives."
But Obama contested their reasoning to Univision's Jorge Ramos arguing, "The information we get isn't necessarily better than doing things the right way."
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Obama defends torture report release
President Barack Obama expressed caution Thursday about the possibility of the United States adding more sanctions against Russia for its incursion into Ukraine because it could divide Washington and Europe.
With some lawmakers on Capitol Hill considering more sanctions, Obama told the President's Export Council that the current path he is taking, in which the United States operates largely in lockstep with Europe, eventually will force Russian President Vladimir Putin to reconsider the wisdom of going into eastern Ukraine.
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"The notion that we can simply ratchet up sanctions further and further and further and then ultimately Putin changes his mind, I think is a miscalculation,'' Obama said.
What ultimately will lead Putin to make a strategic decision, he said, is if Putin recognizes that Europe and the United States are standing together over the long haul.
"If they see that there aren't any cracks in the coalition, then over time, you could see them saying that the costs to their economy outweigh any strategic benefits that they get,'' he said.
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Obama cautious on more Russian sanctions
Rand Paul vs. Paul Gigot
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Rand Paul vs. Paul Gigot - Video