9/11 Truther Rosie O'Donnell Derides 'Horrific,' 'Illegal' U.S. 'Torture'

December 10th, 2014 5:42 PM

9/11 truther Rosie O'Donnell on Wednesday lashed out against America's "horrific," "illegal" "torture." O'Donnell sparred with her fellow View co-host Nicolle Wallace over a new Senate report on the CIA's actions in the wake of September 11th, 2001. After the former Bush aide pointed out that no one would be prosecuted for the supposed torture, the liberal comedian snarled, "Can't there be international crimes?...Couldn't they be tried at the Hague for war crimes because torture is illegal universally across the world?" [MP3 audio here.]

Citing her time working for Bush, Wallace defended enhanced interrogation: "I personally was for them doing anything they had to do so that planes didn't fly into buildings and create such horror that people jumped out of the 100th floor of the trade building. I was for doing anything it took." 

 

At one point, O'Donnell derided forced feedings during hunger strikes at Guantanamo Bay: "Shoving a feeding tube up someone's rectum is rape, number one. And it's inhumane, number two, and it is torture." 

In April, O'Donnell reaffirmed her belief that the United States was involved in the 9/11 terror attacks

In October, she blamed the United States for creating ISIS. 

A partial transcript of the December 10 View segment is below: 

11:05

ROSIE O'DONNELL: And 9/11 where, you know, 15 Saudis and this report of horrific, inhuman, illegal torture was on Iraqis-- So Saudi – America– Saudis attacked the World Trade Center, but we invaded and tortured people in Iraq. And I think it's so unbelievably demoralizing for us as Americans to have to face ourselves and the facts of what we did with our tax dollars. We are better than this. We always have been. And we always have been and need to face it.

...

WHOOPI GOLDBERG: I don't know what the answer to torture is. I don't know how I feel about it. 

O'DONNELL: Really? 

GOLDBERG: Yeah. I don't know how -- 

O'DONNELL: Just curious -- 

GOLDBERG: I don't know how I feel about it because on one hand, I do know that there are other countries that have done it and it's reaped quite good benefits for them. I don't know if that's what we're supposed to be doing. But I'm not surprised that other countries that we have gone over to and pointed the finger at are now pointing the finger at us saying what are you guys doing. 

O'DONNELL: Ronald Reagan banned torture after World War II and sentenced Japanese soldiers who were ordered to water board people to hard labor camps. Ronald Reagan. A very respected Republican. So, I think this is an issue of national security and identity. 

NICOLLE WALLACE: That's where the history was made. It's not a partisan issue. Right? 

O'DONNELL: Correct. 

WALLACE: Everyone agrees? Right? 

ROSIE PEREZ: Yeah. 

WALLACE: So, for the first time in the history of the committee in Congress that deals with this issue, this report came from the Senate Intelligence Committee. For the first time since Congress has had that committee, a partisan report came out. Only the Democrats publish this report. So everything that you reacted to –  

O'DONNELL: Can – 

WALLACE: Let me finish. Let me just finish. Everything your reacted to, those were allegations like when someone is accused of rape or accused of brutality. They were allegations made about a program. Nobody asked anyone in the CIA who was accused of doing those things if they were true. I googled The View this morning. There were 537 stories about us.        

GOLDBERG: Only? 

WALLACE: Only. I know how I feel when something's in the paper --and I don't have nearly as many articles of me as you guys do about you – when there's an allegation and no one calls and asks me if they're true. Doesn't make me feel very good. So, what the CIA says today is that [pointing at Rosie] yes, this emotion that you describe after 9/11–  They're human, too. They were caught up in the emotion. A program was created that allowed for enhanced interrogation of the worst of the worst of the worst. And I personally was for them doing anything they had to do so that planes didn't fly into buildings and create such horror that people jumped out of the 100th floor of the trade building. I was for doing anything it took. 

O'DONNELL: Even torture. 

WALLACE: But I know everyone wasn't. They're called enhanced interrogation. Even the language was heated. What people in Congress that work with the CIA have a responsibility to do is to speak with one voice. The Senate Intelligence Committee is the last passion of bipartisan policy making in Washington. That is so important. And the fact that only the Senate Democrats would put their name on this report makes me doubt the veracity. 

...

O'DONNELL: Can't there be international crimes? Isn't this against the international –  Couldn't they be tried at the Hague for war crimes because torture is illegal universally across the world? 

WALLACE: That's certainly a scenario. The Hague operates under it's own. I'm only familar with the United States's government's – 

...

O'DONNELL: Shoving a feeding tube up someone's rectum is rape, number one. And it's inhumane, number two, and it is torture.