Condi and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day

Posted By Annie Lowrey Monday, May 4, 2009 - 5:26 PM Share

A D.C. fourth grader grilled former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on her approval for the waterboarding of detainees in Guantanamo, which, echoing Nixon, she described as "by definition" not illegal if approved by the president. Her response again checked September 11:

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.
"I hope you understand that it was a very difficult time. We were all so terrified of another attack on the country. September 11 was the worst day of my life in government, watching 3,000 Americans die...Even under those most difficult circumstances, the president was not prepared to do something illegal, and I hope people understand that we were trying to protect the country."

She's going to be answering that same question for the rest of her life, I think. And it appears she has her answer down.

EXPLORE:BUSH ADMINISTRATION, BUSH'S LEGACY

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VIGOROUS

7:38 AM ET

May 5, 2009

watching 3,000 Americans die...

.....while foreign nationals from 90 nations watched their citizens die?

This is the treatment we often get outside the US.

I'm from Canada.

It's insulting to hear this from Rice and to hear Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano (again) say Canada let 9/11 perpetrators in.

Can't the facts be put on the table? Why the continued distortions of truth?

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