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2008 Elections

Civil Liberties: Democratic Candidates

Posted on Thursday October 25, 2007

Sen. Joseph Biden

On the use of torture in extremely hypothetical situations…

No, I would not. And I met, up here in New Hampshire, with 17 three- and four-star generals who, after my making a speech at Drake Law School, pointing out I would not under any circumstances sanction torture, I thought they were about to read me the riot act.

Seventeen of our four-star, three-star generals said

Biden, will you make a commitment you will never use torture? It does not work. It is part of the reason why we got the faulty information on Iraq in the first place is because it was engaged in by one person who gave whatever answer they thought they were going to give in order to stop being tortured. It doesn't work. It should be no part of our policy ever -- ever.

September 26, 2007
Transcript, Democratic Presidential Debate, Hanover, NH

Sen. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton

You know, Tim, I agree with what Joe and Barack have said. As a matter of policy it cannot be American policy period. I met with those same three- and four-star retired generals, and their principal point -- in addition to the values that are so important for our country to exhibit -- is that there is very little evidence that it works.

Now, there are a lot of other things that we need to be doing that I wish we were: better intelligence; making, you know, our country better respected around the world; working to have more allies. But these hypotheticals are very dangerous because they open a great big hole in what should be an attitude that our country and our president takes toward the appropriate treatment of everyone. And I think it's dangerous to go down this path.

September 26, 2007
http://www.cfr.org/publication/14313/

Sen. Christopher Dodd

Not that I disagree, but this was all part of the Military Commissions Act which was adopted last fall.

There were only a handful of us that voted against it at the time. And I've written legislation to overturn it. I'll offer no better witness here than John McCain, who said that during those terrible years he was incarcerated and tortured, he would say anything to those interrogators in order to stop the physical pain. So we need to reinforce the idea here; this is a dreadful way to collect information.

We need to do other things to make sure it happens. But walking away from international conventions, as we did with the Geneva Conventions to disallow the restrictions on torture, I think, is a mistake, and also to walk away from habeas corpus.

But leadership requires you try and do something about it. And I'm doing something about it by trying to get the Congress to overturn that legislation...

September 26, 2007
Transcript, Democratic Presidential Debate, Hanover, NH

Former Sen. Mike Gravel

I will withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq within 60 days and raze Abu Ghraib prison and Guantanamo. We must tell the world that the United States does not stand for torture. It is unacceptable human behavior.

April 21, 2007
Article, “Gravel Wraps Up Pittsburgh, New York City Swing,” Gravel 2008

Former Sen. John Edwards

The only thing I would -- I agree with what's been said. The only thing I would add is the problem is much bigger than this specific hypothetical illustrates. Because what's happened is, what America is has been undermined over the last seven years. And torture is a component of that, or the condoning of torture is a component of it. But it is only one component.

In addition to the torture, we need to be ending this war in Iraq. I will close Guantanamo, which I think is a national embarrassment. The idea that the United States of America would hold anybody without a right to a hearing undermines everything that we represent.

No more secret prisons. Not when I'm president of the United States.

And not only no more secret prisons; I will, the first day that I'm president, end the illegal spying on the American people.

September 26, 2007
Transcript, Democratic Presidential Debate, Hanover, NH

Rep. Dennis Kucinich

I want to say that our Constitution has been trashed by this administration. Former President Gerald Ford understood there are dangers when you use assassination as a tool. Assassination is really what's called an extrajudicial killing. Look at the entire way this administration has changed our Constitution and what America's values are. Extrajudicial killings are now licensed. Abu Ghraib, tortures--licensed. Guantanamo--people are not permitted to have a right to a trial. Habeas corpus has been trashed. You're looking at the one person who really understands what this document, the Constitution of the United States, is all about. I want equal justice. I want Osama Bin Laden brought to justice. Now, if he resists in an attempt to arrest him, you know, whatever happens happens. But I think that we as a country need to reinstate this Constitution. This is the basis of our strength, and so I'm going to proceed to--for the whole world to understand the full power of the U.S. Constitution and what our system of justice is really about.

September 12, 2007
Transcript, Democratic Presidential Debate, Huffington Post Mashup Debate

Sen. Barack Obama

We could have fixed all of this in a way that allows us to detain and interrogate and try suspected terrorists while still protecting the accidentally accused from spending their lives locked away in Guantanamo Bay. Easily. This was not an either-or question.

Instead of allowing this President - or any President - to decide what does and does not constitute torture, we could have left the definition up to our own laws and to the Geneva Conventions, as we would have if we passed the bill that the Armed Services committee originally offered.

Instead of detainees arriving at Guantanamo and facing a Combatant Status Review Tribunal that allows them no real chance to prove their innocence with evidence or a lawyer, we could have developed a real military system of justice that would sort out the suspected terrorists from the accidentally accused.

And instead of not just suspending, but eliminating, the right of habeas corpus - the seven century-old right of individuals to challenge the terms of their own detention, we could have given the accused one chance - one single chance - to ask the government why they are being held and what they are being charged with.

…I've heard, for example, the argument that it should be military courts, and not federal judges, who should make decisions on these detainees. I actually agree with that. The problem is that the structure of the military proceedings has been poorly thought through. Indeed, the regulations that are supposed to be governing administrative hearings for these detainees, which should have been issued months ago, still haven't been issued. Instead, we have rushed through a bill that stands a good chance of being challenged once again in the Supreme Court.

September 28, 2007
Senate Floor Statement on the Military Commission Legislation

Gov. Bill Richardson

I will also be a president that will bring back habeas corpus and the rule of law. I will also be a president that will shut down Guantanamo. I will also be a president that will follow the Constitution and not permit torture as a tool in our foreign policy. I will not eavesdrop on American citizens. And I will not go to war, unless I get the consent of Congress.

I will do everything I can to fight terrorists. That's the main obligation of the American people. But that doesn't mean we become like terrorists and abridge our own freedoms. What the Bush administration has been using is called waterboarding. That is unacceptable not just with the Geneva Conventions, but in the spirit of our nation being a nation that respects human rights. That's not us. I would not permit it.

And, furthermore, I would not permit -- and here's another issue that I would like the Senate to take back -- the president of the United States has today unequaled authority to eavesdrop on American citizens, without a court order. The Congress needs to go back and rescind that.

That is another abridgement that needs to stop.

September 26, 2007
Transcript, Democratic Presidential Debate, Hanover, NH