CNN Late Edition 2007, with Wolf Blitzer: on Homeland Security

Ron Paul: Protect against terrorism by understanding their motivations

It’s not because we are wealthy & prosperous & free. They come here because we are in their country. Permanent bases [in Iraq & elsewhere in the Arab world] just mean that we have expanded the opportunity for the terrorists to come here because there is greater motivation. So, if we want to protect ourselves against terrorism, we have to understand what motivates them. Even Wolfowitz admitted this. He said that the base in Saudi Arabia was an instrumental part of what motivated Osama bin Laden. So if we ignore that, it is at our own folly.

Q: When you made that point at the debate the other night, there were some boos that came out from that Republican audience. Are you in step with Republican voters?

A: I would say that since 70% of the American people want out of the war, and they are tired of it, the Republicans better pick somebody who is opposed to the war or have a new foreign policy, or they can’t win.

John McCain: Waterboarding is torture; & as A.G., Mukasey will declare it

A: Mukasey said that he believes that the president does not have the authority to violate existing law concerning treatment of prisoners. That means clearly that waterboarding is illegal. He also has said that he finds waterboarding repugnant. I have written him saying then there is no doubt that once you get briefed then you will declare waterboarding as torture. And so I am confident that he will declare that practice illegal, and therefore I will vote to support his nomination.

Q: You yourself say there is no doubt about it, waterboarding is torture.

A: It is torture. There’s no doubt about it. Mr. Mukasey will get briefed on the specific procedures that are being used. And I have every anticipation that he will say that it’s illegal and that it is torture.

Colin Powell: Close Guantanamo; it shakes belief in US justice system

FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN POWELL: If it was up to me, I would close Guantanamo. Not tomorrow, but this afternoon. Every morning I pick up a paper and some authoritarian figure, some person somewhere is using Guantanamo to hide their own misdeeds. And so essentially, we have shaken the belief that the world had in America’s justice system by keeping a place like Guantanamo open.

A: I know it’s become a symbol of what’s wrong. It’s more symbolic than it is a substantive issue, because people perceive of mistreatment when, in fact, there are extraordinary means being taken to make sure these detainees are being given, really, every consideration.

Mike Huckabee: Guantanamo prisoners are treated very well

FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN POWELL: If it was up to me, I would close Guantanamo. Not tomorrow, but this afternoon. Every morning I pick up a paper and some authoritarian figure, some person somewhere is using Guantanamo to hide their own misdeeds. And so essentially, we have shaken the belief that the world had in America’s justice system by keeping a place like Guantanamo open.

A: I know it’s become a symbol of what’s wrong. It’s more symbolic than it is a substantive issue, because people perceive of mistreatment when, in fact, there are extraordinary means being taken to make sure these detainees are being given, really, every consideration.

Mike Huckabee: Better to make mistakes at Guantanamo to protect Americans

A: I know it’s become a symbol of what’s wrong. It’s more symbolic than it is a substantive issue, because people perceive of mistreatment when, in fact, there are extraordinary means being taken to make sure these detainees are being given, really, every consideration. Most of our [Arkansas] prisoners would love to be in a facility more like Guantanamo and less like the state prisons that people are in.

Q: But the argument isn’t so much the physical condition as to the legal system that they face. These suspected terrorists, these detainees are being held, by and large, without charges, without any evidence. They’re just being kept there indefinitely.

A: I understand that. There’s not a perfect solution. The perfect solution is to get people to quit being terrorists. If we’re going to make a mistake right now, let’s make it on the side of protecting the American people

Chris Dodd: We’ve known Walter Reed was disgraceful for over a year

A: Well, certainly, Gates is new on the job, , but this is not new. That’s the unfortunate part. The news stories are a couple of weeks old, but these reports were coming out over a year ago. In fact, some of us offered some proposals a year ago to increase funding to deal exactly with these issues how our veterans were being treated at Walter Reed and other facilities. So the word “disgraceful” hardly describes or seems adequate in describing this. So I applaud the secretary of defense’s sense of outrage here. And moving personnel around is fine. That’s symbolic. But we’ve got to do more than that. These people deserve a lot better.

Chris Dodd: Transfer funds from $2B weekly in Iraq, to helping veterans

A: You don’t have to necessarily raise the taxes, just some different priorities. We’re spending $2 billion a week in Iraq. Frankly, by redeploying those forces soon, not doing what we’re doing today here, a lot of those resources could be used to deal exactly with these veterans. You don’t have to raise taxes to do that. You have to re-order our priorities.

Q: The Congress, led by the Democrats, took $3 billion out of the budget that was designated for the facilities for returning troops from Iraq and spent that money on domestic projects.

A: That’s because the Republicans who controlled the last Congress didn’t get a budget done, including the amendment that I offered for $20 billion, to deal exactly with this issue, which were rejected by the Republican majority.

Dennis Kucinich: Opposes the use of war as an instrument of policy