Matt Lauer Nails, George W. Bush Squirms on Torture, the Law, and Presidential Duty

On Tuesday, September 13, the Today show aired an interview between Matt Lauer and George W. Bush that had taken place the previous Friday. The following is a partial transcript I transcribed from a hastily shoved-in video tape. The transcript is a bit long, but it is crucial to understand the Republican Bush administration’s approach to torture, the law, and the constitutional duties of a president.

Matt Lauer: The past five years has been dominated by the subject of terrorism, and the response and the results of 9/11.

George W. Bush: Yeah, I know. No question about it. My thinking, um, about the world, uh, was changed dramatically on that day. Um, I realized that my most important responsibility, and that of all of us in government, is to protect the people. And after all, 19 people killed 3,000 citizens. Um, Secondly, I realized that we were involved in a ideological struggle akin to the Cold War. And every day in the Oval Office with the exception of Sunday, when I’m in town, I get briefed on this, uh, you know, what the enemy is trying to do to us. It’s a sobering thought.

…

George W. Bush: You can’t expect me, and people in this government, to do what we need to do to protect you and your family if we don’t have the tools that we think are necessary to do it.

Matt Lauer: And you said “within the law.”

George W. Bush: Yeah.

Matt Lauer: And yet you said there were these CIA secret facilities.

George W. Bush: So what? Why is that not within the law?

Matt Lauer: The head of Amnesty International says secret sites are against international law.

George W. Bush: We, we disagree, disagree with him. And plus, my job is to protect you. And most American people — if I said I had the, what we think is, the mastermind of the 9/11, they’d say, “Why don’t you see if you can get information out of him without torturing him. Which is what we did.

Matt Lauer: Were you made personally…

George W. Bush: My job is to protect this country, Matt. And, uh, I’m going to, within the law. I get second-guessed all the time by people who don’t live in the United States, but let me remind you: September the 11 for them was a bad day. For us, it was a change of attitude.

Matt Lauer: These, these “alternative methods” that you talked about in terms of extracting information from these suspected terrorists: were you made personally aware of all of the techniques that were used, for example, against Khalid Sheik Mohammed? And did you approve all of those techniques?

George W. Bush: I, I, I told our people, “Get information without torture,” and was assured by our justice department that we were not torturing.

Matt Lauer: But it’s been reported that with Khalid Sheik Mohammed, he was what they call “waterboarded.”

George W. Bush: Um, I’m not going to talk about techniques that we use on people. One reason why is that we don’t want the enemy to adjust. The American people need to know we are using techniques within the law to protect ‘em.

[louder] You said to me, you said to me, how can we be sure you’re doing everything it takes to protect the American people, and I’m saying to you, we’re listening to Al Qaeda if they’re calling in this country, and some people want to get rid of that program. We’d got walls that did not allow criminal investigators and intelligence forces to talk to one another, and we’ve eliminated that, eliminated the laws. [louder] Let me finish. And, but, one, but, the best source according to those who are on the front lines protecting the American people, is when we pick up somebody off of the battlefield, who we interrogate them within the law, to get data, [shouting] and I would strongly urge people looking at that speech I gave, because I declassified classified information to show how important the information we got, from whom we think is the mastermind of the September the 11th attacks!

Matt Lauer: I don’t want let this “within the law” issue slip, though. I mean, if in fact there was waterboarding used with Khalid Sheik Mohammed — for the viewers, that’s basically you strap someone to a board and you make them feel as if they’re going to drown, you put them under water. If that was legal and within the law, why couldn’t you do it at Guantanamo? Why do you have to go to a secret location around the world?

George W. Bush: I, I, I’m not going to talk about techniques, and I’m not going to explain to the enemy what we’re doing. All I’m telling you is, you asked me whether we’re doing things to protect the American people, and I want the American people to know we are doing so.

Matt Lauer: At some point, Mr. President, if these techniques, these “alternative procedures”…

George W. Bush: I, I’m not going to talk about it.

Matt Lauer: I’m not going to ask you to specifically say anything about it. But if they are used, are you at all concerned at some point, even if you get results, there’s a blurring of the lines between ourselves and the people we’re trying to protect ourselves against?

George W. Bush: Uh, Matt, I’m just telling you, what this government has done is to take steps to protect you and your family.

I’ve always considered the Today show and other morning programs to be lightweights more appropriate for the discussion of celebrity cleavage than issues of morality, law, and constitution. But Matt Lauer has done what those supposedly weightier nighttime journalists have failed to do: capture George W. Bush’s arrogant squirm on torture, the law, and presidential duty. Lauer puts George W. Bush on the record in two related matters:

1. George W. Bush hasn’t read his job description. In his interview, he began with the observation that, “Um, I realized that my most important responsibility, and that of all of us in government, is to protect the people.” Bush repeated many times that his biggest job is to protect the American people. But no, George, no it isn’t.

The primary job of the government is laid out in the preamble to the Constitution:

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

Look in there: “provide for the common defense” is just one of six government priorities, and it’s stuck in the mediocre middle spot. Surely (surely!) George W. Bush has read the Constitution. Why, then, does he neglect Union, Justice, Tranquility, Welfare and Liberty (Liberty!) in favor of “protecting the people” as the most important job of government?

The Oath of Office for the President is specifically laid out in Article II, Section I of the U.S. Constitution: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” The oath of the Constitution makes it perfectly clear what the primary responsibility of the President is. It is not to defend the people. It is to defend the Constitution of the United States. Why does George W. Bush neglect his constitutionally-mandated oath of office in favor of his own priorities?

The answer is that George W. Bush is not particularly concerned with the constitution, its enumerated liberties, and its focus on government as an organ to empower the people. Rather, George W. Bush has a kingly view of government in which the monarch is selected to reign over the people, to do whatever he feels is in their best interests, and to do so away from the pesky prying eyes of the unwashed public.

2. George W. Bush admits to waterboarding suspects, and calls it legal in contravention to his own Justice Department’s official legal memo on the subject. Read carefully when Matt Lauer asks about “waterboarding,” a practice in which “you make them feel as if they’re going to drown” during interrogation.

Matt Lauer: But it’s been reported that with Khalid Sheik Mohammed, he was what they call “waterboarded.”

George W. Bush: Um, I’m not going to talk about techniques that we use on people.

News has already been leaked from government officials to the effect that the government uses waterboarding. And right here is the president referring to waterboarding as one of the “techniques that we use on people.” If Matt Lauer had said, “Did you crucify Mohammed?” George W. Bush would have said a clear, “No. That would be torture, and we don’t torture.” But Bush won’t deny waterboarding, because he can’t deny waterboarding.

In his further reference to waterboarding, George W. Bush repeatedly refers to it as within the law. But the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel’s definitive December 30, 2004 memo written to explicitly restate the definition of torture, reads (regarding 18 USC 2340-2340A):

1) “torture” means an act committed by a person acting under color of law specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering (other than pain or suffering incidental to lawful sanctions) upon another person within his custody or physical control;

(2) “severe mental pain or suffering” means the prolonged mental harm caused by or resulting from–

(A) the intentional infliction or threatened infliction of severe physical pain or suffering;

(B) the administration or application, or threatened administration or application, of mind-altering substances or other procedures calculated to disrupt profoundly the senses or the personality;

(C) the threat of imminent death;

George W. Bush’s own Justice Department defines torture in such a way as to clearly make waterboarding qualify as torture, and therefore to clearly make waterboarding against the law.

Matt Lauer’s interview is crucial because it puts George W. Bush on the record, lying to the American people about an instance of breaking the law that has real legal consequences. What consequences? Read the same Justice Department memo, which spells it out:

Whoever outside the United States commits or attempts to commit torture shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both, and if death results to any person from conduct prohibited by this subsection, shall be punished by death or imprisoned for any term of years or for life.

…

(c) Conspiracy.–A person who conspires to commit an offense under this section shall be subject to the same penalties (other than the penalty of death) as the penalties prescribed for the offense, the commission of which was the object of the conspiracy.

Someone alert the authorities: it appears that in his authorization of unconstitutional brute squad tactics, George W. Bush has moved beyond the status of a liar to that of a felon.