Sen. Dianne Feinstein may be a liberal when it comes to social issues, but on matters of war and peace and "national security" she's a hawk. That doesn't seem matter much to flamethrowers like Fox's "Judge" Jeanine Pirro, who went off the rails this Saturday ranting about the release of the Senate torture report last week.
In upside-down land over at Faux "news" Feinstein is a terrorist coddling enemy to the CIA who wants to appease our "enemies." Never mind if many of the people we tortured turned out to be innocent, or whether or not torture is morally reprehensible, or a violation of the Geneva Convention. Pirro wants her bloodlust satisfied and she wants it now!
Here's transcript of the rant for anyone who doesn't have the stomach to watch it from Fox's blog: Judge Jeanine: 'Your Ivory Tower, Liberal, Kumbaya Naiveté Is Dangerous':
Sen. Diane Feinstein this week released her so called Senate "intelligence report," bemoaning America’s brutal and ugly treatment of 9/11 detainees - our enemies - as a stain on our values and history.
My response? People who kill thousands of innocent Americans have no right to gentle and humane treatment! And I for one will not hang my head in shame because the CIA did what the president, his cabinet and Congress thought was right in a time of war - let alone apologize to those who killed us.
And by calling it a "torture report," the senator turns our enemy into the victim:
"The CIA's actions a decade ago are a stain on our values and on our history." - Sen. Feinstein
Now calls for criminal prosecution of the American torturers, articles on how to prosecute Americans, calls to compensate the detainees and suggestions that the UN investigate us for violating of international law
Context, Diane - context. September 11th, 2001 - 3000 of us killed in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania
We don’t know who the enemy is, where they're located, what their mission is and fearing another attack - we act to get information.
Rules are adopted by the president, the national security advisor, the attorney general, the justice department, while congress authorizes the use of military force.
"What happened here was that we asked the agency to go take steps and put in place programs that are designed to catch the bastards that killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and to make sure it didn't happen again." - Vice President Dick Cheney
I was in New York City that sunny 9-11 morning. I had friends at the world trade center. The next day as I walked through the ashes and the rubble I wondered how my friends died. Were they burned alive? Crushed to death Or did they jump to their deaths?
And you're worried about "blowing cigar smoke in detainees faces"? Hell, I had a judge do that to me in the middle of a trial. I got over it!
These are our enemies. Their mission is to kill us. So while their Allah says, 'Kill the infidel,' you and your Senate Democrats say we need to be kinder and gentler to them.
Should we have matinees at Gitmo? How about exercise classes? Hell, the president said one detainee took up yoga, so he'll never be a danger - that one now walking the streets of home.
Are you interested in saving the enemy at the expense of Americans? You say one thing and do another - you support drone killings of Americans without due process, no arrest, no indictment, no trial, just kill them with a drone!
So you justify the drone killings of American citizens who've gone to work with al Qaeda, but we can't waterboard Al Qaeda themselves to save an American citizen?
So did we get actionable intelligence? John McCain says no. Dick Cheney and John Brennan say yes.
Honestly, I don't know. I don’t know who to believe
But what I do know is the Obama White House and Eric Holder investigated whether any crimes were committed during those interrogations. No charges ever filed.
The fact that Barack Obama - who has spent the last 6 years blaming George Bush for everything but his golf score - didn't file charges tells me there was nothing to prosecute. Not to mention, doing so would have embarrassed high-ranking Democrats like Nancy Pelosi - who knew about everything happening and did nothing.
So why now? Besides the obvious political gamesmanship, who was clamoring for this? Where was the drumbeat from - the Gitmo terrorists? Do we even need to have this discussion and point the finger of blame at ourselves when they attacked us! And our government did its best to protect us
Now, there were no follow up attacks, now were there?
What was gained? There is nothing new and nothing prosecutable. All you've done is jeopardize Americans abroad, create recruiting material for fanatic jihadists and in true Obama fashion throw our allies under the bus
I, for one, am tired of American apologists like you trashing those assigned to protect us, those who put their lives on the line like the CIA and law enforcement. They and not you have the high moral ground, you and your namby pamby lets be friends hogwash.
And while you're at it, Dianne, what's your solution? Have you read the papers lately? Americans are beheaded by these same Muslim fanatics
You know what I think? I think you've been in Washington too long. Your ivory tower, liberal, kumbaya naiveté is dangerous.
And simply talking to high value captives who are responsible for murdering my friends and other innocent Americans is naive.
You want to play with the big boys? Get the hell out of your ivory tower and highfalutin fundraisers, put on your big boy pants and start drawing a moral distinction between those who live to murder Americans and innocent Americans who rely on you for their safety.
If you commit the ultimate crime, to me, you forfeit your right to freedom. We should be allowed to purge our sensibilities of you and not be required to endure your existence for a moment longer than is absolutely necessary.