Tom Ridge - Department of Homeland Security - Articles - Zimbio

Former secretary of Homeland Security says waterboarding is torture

Sat, 8 Jun 2008 16:33:00 GMT

posted by telespy

‘No doubt,’ says Tom Ridge, first Homeland Security secretary

Former Bush official: Waterboarding is torture

WASHINGTON - The first secretary of the Homeland Security Department says waterboarding is torture.

“There’s just no doubt in my mind — under any set of rules — waterboarding is torture,” Tom Ridge said Friday in an interview. Ridge had offered the same opinion earlier in the day to members of the American Bar Association at a homeland security conference.

“One of America’s greatest strengths is the soft power of our value system and how we treat prisoners of war, and we don’t torture,” Ridge said in the interview. Ridge was secretary of the Homeland Security Department between 2003 and 2005. “And I believe, unlike others in the administration, that waterboarding was, is — and will always be — torture. That’s a simple statement.”

Waterboarding is a harsh interrogation tactic that was used by CIA officers in 2002 and 2003 on three alleged al-Qaida terrorists. The tactic gives the subject the sensation of drowning.

The CIA has not used the technique since 2003, and CIA Director Michael Hayden prohibited it in 2006, according to U.S. officials. The debate was recently revived when the CIA revealed it had destroyed videotapes showing the interrogations of two alleged terrorists, both of whom were waterboarded.

Fuzzy message on waterboarding

Ridge’s comments come a week after a report that Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell said he would consider waterboarding torture if it were used against him.

In a separate interview Thursday, the current Homeland Security secretary, Michael Chertoff, refused to say what he thinks of the interrogation technique. Chertoff, a former federal prosecutor and judge — who was also assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Criminal Division in 2002 — said the question should be asked in the context of a specific set of facts and a specific statute and should not be posed abstractly.

“This is too important a discussion to have based on throwing one question at somebody,” Chertoff said.

Attorney General Michael Mukasey has declined so far to rule on whether waterboarding constitutes torture. An affirmative finding by Mukasey could put at risk the CIA interrogators who were authorized by the White House in 2002 to waterboard three prisoners deemed resistant to conventional techniques.

‘No idea’ how CIA got intelligence
Ridge, homeland security adviser and then secretary from 2001 to 2005, said he was not involved in the discussions about CIA interrogation techniques. Rather, his department was a consumer of any intelligence gleaned from them.

“I have no idea how any of the intelligence community extrapolated any information from anybody — where they got it, how they got it, and from whom they got it. But waterboarding is torture.”

Ridge, a lawyer, wades into the waterboarding debate with both a military and civilian background. He is also a former Pennsylvania governor and congressman. He has since started his own homeland security consulting firm.

Will Ridge play 'Hardball' with McCain as veep?

Wed, 24 Jul 2008 10:45:35 GMT

posted by brettlieberman

Posted by BRETT LIEBERMAN, Of The Patriot-News July 24, 2008 06:45AM

Categories: Election 2008, Federal government, George Bush, Governor, Pennsyltucky blog, President, Rendell, White House

Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge.

Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge is again being mentioned as a short-list candidate for the Republican vice presidential nomination.

George W. Bush passed him over in 2000. Will 2008 be any different?

Republican presidential candidate John McCain ducks the question during an interview during his visit to Pennsylvania on Wednesday. He tells The Morning Call, "I think Tom has a great role to play in the future of the Republican Party."

Ridge would have a role in a McCain Cabinet "[I]f he wants one. I know I would want to use his talent. Exactly how would be something we'd want to look at," said McCain.

McCain did however prove he knows the price of milk and there was no price scanner gaffe at the checkout.

Ridge will no doubt be asked the same question later today when he appears as a guest on MSNBC's "Hardball" with host and Philly-native Chris Matthews.

Ridge told "FOX & Friends" that he's had "no conversations" with McCain's campaign about joining the ticket.

"When they announce it, I'll be one of those most interested in their decision," said Ridge.

The current resident of the Pennsylvania Governor's Residence was also asked about the veep spot during a television appearance this week.

"I haven't been contacted by anybody -- showing that the Obama campaign has good sense," Gov. Ed Rendell said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." Obama would be smart to add someone with more foreign policy experience, such as Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, Rendell added.

Tags: Barack Obama, Democrats, Ed Rendell, election, Governor, John McCain, president, Republicans, Tom Ridge, Vice president, White House

Ridge lobbies for Albania, but doesn't report it

Mon, 24 Jun 2008 10:53:11 GMT

posted by brettlieberman

Posted by BRETT LIEBERMAN, Of The Patriot-News June 24, 2008 06:53AM

Categories: Government

Tom Ridge

Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge registered with the Department of Justice as a lobbyist for the government of Albania nearly two years after winning an almost half-million dollar lobbying contract, Roll Call reports this morning.

(Hat tip GrassrootsPa)

"I didn't think it was [necessary] to register," the Capitol Hill newspaper quotes the former Pennsylvania governor and national co-chair of John McCain's presidential campaign as saying.

"It was brought to my attention after the contract expired and my lawyer said under the circumstances I probably should have filed," Ridge said.

Ridge registered after he was contacted by the Justice Department.

Welcome to our blog about Tom Ridge - Department of Homeland Security

Wed, 24 Aug 2006 19:21:17 GMT

posted by The_Zimbio_Team
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Securing Our Border's

Mon, 3 Apr 2007 16:09:00 GMT

posted by jsteven
Once again I read a perfect example of why we need to secure
our border's. If we didn't already have enough. It seems another
illegal , convicted felon no less, has killed two teenage girl's in
Virginia. Two kid's with their entire life ahead of them.
Alfredo Ramos was convicted earlier this year of DUI
in Chesapeake and of public intoxication in Virginia Beach.
He was arraigned on Monday and charged with manslaughter.
(Charges of driving without a license and proof of insurance
were dropped earlier this yea Why was this man still in the country?
Why wasn't he in jail?
Now two young girls will never grow up. Parent's have lost their
children and sibling's have lost their sibling's.
According to several news agencies , more people are killed by
illegal alien's in this country than in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
World Net Daily report's that 12 American's are murdered every
day by illegals and 13 by illegals driving under the influence.
That's 9125 American's killed annually. Almost 3 times as many as
Soldier's killed in the war with the fascist.
When are we going to get serious about securing our border's?
The Presidents not going to do it. The Democrat's can only see
more votes on their side. The Republican's see cheap labor for
employer's that contribute big buck's to their campaign's.
How many more American's have to die? How much more
cocaine and marijuana do we let into this great nation?
In Venezuela Hugo Chavez continues to train Muslim terrorist
to walk, talk and speak like Mexicans so they can just slide on
across the border along with the other's. ( keep buy that Citgo gasoline)
It's just a matter of time before we lose thousands more American's
to the terrorist.
Wake Up! Call your representative's. Send email's, faxes and even
write them. If we don't become more pro-active in our fight for this
great nation we may all have to learn to speak Spanish and bow
to Mecca.
Steve Hardy