Washington – Karl Rove, one-time deputy chief of staff to former President George W. Bush, spoke to a jam-packed Storer Auditorium at the University of Miami Thursday afternoon.
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After a brief opening speech, Rove transformed the event into an open forum during which audience members could ask him a question or engage him in a debate.
The “campaign architect,” as he is commonly called, built a case against President Barack Obama’s order to close Guantanamo, an overseas CIA detention center where terrorists and other “enemy combatants” are held. Obama’s order could enable terrorists to be tried in U.S. courts, to be given undeserved rights afforded American citizens and could cause damaging long-term effects, Rove said.
“One year from now, Gitmo won’t be closed,” Rove said. “If it is, there will be an uproar in the U.S. about where to put these people.”
Interrogation tactics used by the CIA during Bush’s term in office were not torturous, Rove said, but he did not deny that the CIA strongly pressed terrorists for vital information.
“You bet we squeeze them for information,” Rove said. “If we hadn’t, those same terrorists could have executed their plans to kill, and [people] would be asking why Bush didn’t protect American soldiers’ lives.”
A heated exchange erupted between Rove and senior Corey Ciorciari, a longtime intern for the Obama campaign. Cioriciari asked about the ethics of using “fear and deception” as governing tactics.
Rove called Ciorciari’s accusation “cynical and callous.”
“Was it creating fear when we got reports that Saddam Hussein stores secret supplies for chemical weapons, that he had a willingness to use destruction, that he was developing and seeking weapons – that he was an imminent threat to the U.S.?” Rove asked. “These are not quotes by Bush. They’re quotes by Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Kerry.”
A loud applause erupted from the audience, but Ciorciari was not convinced.
“I think it’s nice he came [to speak] after Obama’s inauguration… It’s a testament to how much this country rejected the last eight years,” Ciorciari later told The Miami Hurricane. “What really struck me is his lack of acknowledgment and disappointment. He never owned up to [the administration’s] mistakes. I wish, in retrospect, that I could have said a lot more.”
Other students said they appreciated Rove’s honesty.
“I loved it; he was very informative and very honest about his opinions,” said Sgt. Agbeyegbe Jolomi, a junior who served in Iraq for one year. “I’m happy I came to this event.”
Bush was deeply changed by the Sept. 11 attacks, Rove said, and keeps the badge of a firefighter killed during the rescue effort in his pocket at all times as a constant reminder of his “guiding responsibility to keep the country safe.”
“I know that 9/11 has receded from some people’s minds, but I will tell you it hasn’t left George W. Bush’s mind,” Rove said.
A heartfelt story about Bush’s compassion for the American people and his devastated reaction upon first visiting Ground Zero left many in tears.
“It gave us a new perspective on the Bush administration and the decisions they made,” senior Andrea Whalen said. “If you look at the facts, Bush got an unfair rap. He made a lot of really tough decisions for the best interest of the nation. It was really great when [Rove] finally set the record straight.”
Rove still encouraged attendees to support the new president, stating that he “wishes Obama success.”
“It was fantastic, more than what I expected,” said Remy Flor, a junior and fan of Rove’s. “To see him in the flesh was great, and the presentation reinforced my views.”
maybe has-been rove can go join norm coleman at the rjc
enough already GO AWAY. We had enough.
please , the name ROVE just wants to make me vomit. he is yesterdays news, and this web site doesn’t have to be a shill for the worst presidency in US history…
I hope that Mr. Rove — a very savvy political expert — is right about Guantanamo. It was very easy for Candidate Barack Obama to throw red meat to the rabid liberals who make up his political base and talk grandly about closing Guantanamo and “ending torture” as some sort of symbol of “renewed” U.S. commitment to “human rights” — but now that he is President and has actual responsibility for defending this country, he will see that such promises are easier made then kept.
It is like the Greek legend about the Sword of Damocles (Damocles was a loud-mouthed royal hanger-on, always mouthing off about how easy the king’s job was; the king invited him to switch places and be “king for a day”; as he was enjoying a royal feast, “king” Damocles happened to look up — and saw a sword above his head, hanging point down, suspended by a single strand of horsehair, and all of a sudden, Damocles shut up about how “easy” the king had it because he realized the danger and constant threat he was under).
Hopefully, Obama will get a few more security briefings about just how dangerous the al Quaeda terrorists really are to us and how difficult it is to stop them and he will have his “Sword of Damocles” moment and will then “put away his childish things” (a line from his inaugural address), i.e., his naive, immature and juvenile partisan criticisms of the way President Bush conducted the fight to protect America from further terrorist attacks, and will do what needs to be done to keep dangerous terrorists locked away and to squeeze vital information from them — even if the tiny minds on the liberal left are outraged at his “betrayal”.
#6 “remember we want our prisonors treated like we treat prisoners… “
Burech, if you seriously think that the al Quaeda savages will refrain from beating, torturing or even murdering captured “infidel” Americans, the way they beheaded the captured American Jewish reporter Daniel Pearl, a’h, Hyd, even gleefully putting the video of his murder on Al Jazeera and the Internet, because Obama signs a piece of paper and says he will close Guantanamo (where we even give the prisoners copies of the Koran, being extra careful to inadvertantly “desecrate” their holy book, and we let them pray to “Allah,”), then you are hopelessly naive.
Also, you mention the Geneva conventions. The Geneva Convention rules cover the treatment of legitimate prisoners of war from real nations — i.e., uniformed soldiers from established armies of real nations — and we as a signatory have lived up to those obligations; when we captured members of Saddam’s Republican Guard or other legitimate Iraqi Army units, we treated them as legitimate prisoners of war are supposed to be treated under international law. But the convention does NOT cover treatment of terrorist bandits like al Quaeda and the various rag-tag “militias” against whom we fight — men who do not wear uniforms but who deliberately dress in civilian clothes to hide among the civilian population and use them as camouflage and cover from which to launch attacks, and who indescriminately target civilians with their bombs, which is STRICTLY PROHIBITED by those same Geneva Codes. So these men do not deserve the protection which the codes guarantee and which we respect. Such maurauders are no better than spies, pirates and criminals and should be hung upon capture, not appeased and coddled. The reluctance of civilized people to deal with these barbarians the way they ought to be dealt with wins us no friends but only empowers them and lets them manipulate our media and political establishment, and will result in the deaths of more Americans.
IN #7 , I meant to say we are careful NOT to inadvertantly desecrate the Koran
Barak isn’t closing Gitmo so fast. Wait and see. If it is closed in twelve months they will have the same thing with the same prisoners going on somewhere else.
The lefties are going to be calling for his head by year’s end.