i want to turn to general mukasey. this subject came up in your hearings. you had to make a determination as a government official. >> what i was asked during my confirmation hearings was whether water boarding was torture. since i didn't know what the c.i.a. did, what they called water boarding, i couldn't answer the question, much to the frustration to have members of the committee. i did over a period of months with the assistance of two other lawyers, neither of whom knew who the other was. so that i have input from two people who are independent of one another and independent of me and concluded that what the c.i.a. did did not violate the torture statute. points have been made repeatedly. if that is -- what we're here to discuss, that's no not the discussion i can really have. it doesn't violate the torture statute. if we're here to decide whether torture led to the capture of bin laden, i think we can agree that it didn't because we didn't torture anybody to get any information. what they did, there is virtually no relationship, i would say no relati

john yoo will moderate the panel which includes michael mukasey. before that, we want to show you a speech john mccain made last week condemning the use of torture. he spent five and a half years in captivity as a prisoner of war in north vietnam and was subjected to torture in that time. these remarks are just over 20 minutes. osama bin laden to justice has appropriately heightened the nation's appreciation for the diligence, patriotism and courage of our armed forces and our intelligence community. they are a great credit, an inspiration to the country that has asked so much of them, and like all americans, i'm in their their success has reignited debate over whether the so- called enhanced in delegation techniques of enemy prisoners, including water boarding, were instrumental in locating bin laden and whether they are necessary and justifiable means for securing valuable information that might help prevent future terrorist attacks against us and our allies and lead to the capture or killing of those who would perpetrate them. are they and shoul

i will turn to general mukasey. this came up in your confirmation hearings that you have to conduct a review on this issue. you have had to make a determination. >> what i was asked during the confirmation hearing is whether waterboarding is torture. since i did not know what the cia did, they called waterboarding, i could not answer the question. much to the frustration of the number of the members of the committee. i undertook to review of the memos which i did over months. with the assistance of two other lawyers, neither of whom knew who the other was. i had input from two people who were independent from one another in may. what the cia did did not violate the torture statute. the label has been attached to waterboarding that it was torture. that if that is what we are here to discuss. that is not a discussion i can have because it is not. it does not violate the torture statute. if we are here to decide if torture led to the capture of bin laden, it did not because we did not torture anybody to get information

john mccain responded at the end of last week, taking issue with that claim and asking judge mukaseyo withdraw his earlier statement. i like to give judge mukasey the opportunity to respond. >> the opportunity to withdraw my statement? [laughter] as another character set in another connection, this is not personal, it is business. by business has to do with facts and law. the fact is that come -- muhammed -- khalid sheikh muhamed did disclose the ourier in thehis care questioning after enhanced interrogation. no one was questioned during the techniques. the questioning happens after they become compliant. was there a memo in the file beforehand contending that name? yes, absolutely, and it was completely disregarded. it was not regarded as significant until it came out of his mouth. then when not only did that, but he then said that that person was the longer affiliated and had nothing to do with al qaeda and it was married up with later facts that were learned, it was obvious that he was covering for him and i was a significant fact. there were a lot of stones in the mosaic but that

michael mukasey, the attorney general.eon panetta all have said one way or the other the enhanced interrogation program played a role. that is to say some of the early leads came out of that program. my guess is that is probably the case that it contributed. just as did a number of other factors. >> chris: which raises the question, if we were to now capture another new high value target, which is certainly more likely given this apparent trove of information, that they recovered in bin laden's compound, should the president reinstate enhanced interrogation including waterboarding? >> well, i certainly would advocate it. i'd be a strong supporter of it. we went to a lot of trouble to find out what we could do, how far we could go, what was legal and so forth. out of that emerged what we called enhanced interrogation. it worked. it provided some absolutely vital pieces of intelligence. there is a study that was done by the c.i.a. in the national archives, some of it has been declassified now, that shows that enhanced interr

taking part is former attorney general michael mukasey live tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> this week on "q&a," author and investigative journalist, richard miniter. his latest book is called "mastermind: the many faces of the 9/11 architect, khalid sheikh mohammed." >> richard miniter, author of "mastermind." what is it? >> "mastermind" is the first book to look at the life of khalid sheikh mohammed, the man who planned the 9/11 attacks and all of the other major al qaeda attacks that you've heard about, he's the deadly brains behind al qaeda. he's what made al qaeda much more lethal. before he was captured, when he first joined al qaeda, they were killing dozens at a time. as soon as he got into senior leadership, they began killing hundreds and then thousands at a time. after he was captured in march 2003, the lethality of al qaeda fell. this is a guy that really mattered and understanding him is about understanding the future of the war on terror. now that bin laden is dead, this is what we have to fear, the terrorist entrepreneurs like khalid sheik

i hope former attorney general mukasey will correct his misstatement.it's important that he do so because we're again engaged in this important debate. with much at stake for america's security and reputation. each side should make its own case, but do so without making up its own facts. for my part, i would oppose any legislation if any should be proposed that is intended to authorize the administration to return to the use of waterboarding or other methods of interrogation that i sincerely believe are torture or cruel, inhuman and degrading and as such unworthy and injurious to our country. this debate is ongoing, but i don't believe it will lead to a change in current policy prohibiting these methods. so perhaps this is just a debate for the history books, but it is still important because americans in a future age as well as their leaders might face these same questions. we should do our best to provide them a record of our debates and decisions that is notable, not just for its passion but for its deliberativeness and for opinions that were informe

i hope former attorney general mukasey will correct his misstatement. it's important that he do so because we're again engaged in this important debate. with much at stake for america's security and reputation. each side should make its own case, but do so without making up its own facts. for my part, i would oppose any legislation if any should be proposed that is intended to authorize the administration to return to the use of waterboarding or other methods of interrogation that i sincerely believe are torture or cruel, inhuman and degrading and as such unworthy and injurious to our country. this debate is ongoing, but i don't believe it will lead to a change in current policy prohibiting these methods. so perhaps this is just a debate for the history books, but it is still important because americans in a future age as well as their leaders might face these same questions. we should do our best to provide them a record of our debates and decisions that is notable, not just for its passion but for its deliberativeness and for opinions that were inform

budget and dragging a nuclear policy to put these efforts in the nuclear deterrent at risk of lead to mukasey for the record mr. truman to work together on this issue in the yield back. >> the gentleman yields back. i ask unanimous consent, the amendments that have been worked on the minority side and i would ask the clerk to pass the amendment. >> reading of the amendment will be dispensed with >> this and what the amendment comprises the following amendment regarding changes to the name of the annual report on military and security development involving the people's republic of china and additional reporting requirements relating to chyba to the coach linus lubber espinel should devotee. an amendment by mr. forbes clarifying qdr should be independent of the president's budget request in order to allow the congress to determine the level of acceptable risk to execute the missions associated with the national defense strategy. in amendment by mr. griffin that requires the dod identify the corrective action plans for weaknesses and deficiencies in the execution of a financial and improvement r

domestic intelligence service and everyone said that it was great in 2004 and late 2008 attorney general mukasey finally did issue fbi guidelines with regard to working the spaces between cases as a domestic intelligence services. you saw how will well that fit in the popular political culture. it unleashed a firestorm of criticism so this is hard because we have not done it before and our political culture is a bit of a rejection for it. it brings the point to call someone harman brought up, you make people feel better if you have got those mechanisms in place and working to give a comfort level that this is being overseen as well. i guess to reinforce it, this is a very important if not the most important area of focus, the new flavor of threat homegrown, low threshold, self-radicalized, individual which puts a lot or wait on domestic as opposed to foreign, lot or wait on law enforcement as opposed to intelligence derived and if we don't begin to perfect our processes and organizations there are, something bad will happen and we will overreact and perhaps make it even worse. >> well said. go a

mukasey, just one short thing, he says your new legislation would not confer new powers but would add order and rational toy -- rationality to what has been an improvizational exercise by judges who did not the facts. the chair: the gentleman's request is covered urn general leave. mr. mckeon: i yield one minute to the gentleman from florida, mr. west. the chair: the gentleman is recognized of. mr. west: i rise in opposition to this amendment. there are few members in this chamber who served on a 21st century battlefield a battlefield comprised of nonstate, nonuniformed belligerents. all this amendment in 1034 section says is that we affirm we are engaged in an armed conflict. it is a very narrow definition and looks at the global conflagration which we're in. it also addresses western be seeking to remove the belligerents off the battlefield. i had the experience in 2003 in iraq, hade the -- i had the experience in two and a half years in afghanistan and if we allow an amendment such as this to go forward, it would have precluded us to go -- from going in and killing the world's numb

domestic intelligence service and everyone said that it was great in 2004 and late 2008 attorney general mukasey finally did issue fbi guidelines with regard to working the spaces between cases as a domestic intelligence services. you saw how will well that it in the popular political culture. it unleashed a firestorof criticism so this is hard because we have not done it before and our political culture is a bit of a rejection for it. it brings the point to call someone harman brought up, you make people feel better if you have got those mechanisms in place and working to give a comfort level that this is being overseen as well. i guess to reinforce it, this is a very important if not the most important area of focus, the new flavor of threat homegrown, low threshold, self-radicalized, individual which puts a lot or wait on domestic as opposed to foreign, lot or wait on law enforcemen as opposed to intelligence derived and if we don't begin to perfect our processes and organizations there are, something bad will happen and we will overreact and perhaps make it even worse. >> well said. go ahead

that's what former attorney general michael mukasey, along with other former justice department and cia'm newt gingrich, and i'm announcing my candidacy for president of the united states because i believe we can return america to hope and opportunity. >> with a field of republican presidential hopefuls beginning to take shape, follow the candidates' announcements and speeches on their road to the white house and look back at their careers online with the c-span video library. search, watch, clip and share with everything we've covered since 1987. it's what you want and when you want. >> from today's "washington journal," a look at the future of u.s./pakistan relations following the osama bin laden mission. this portion is about 20 minutes. to welcome shuja nawaz, the south asian director for the atlantic council. i want to share with you the headlines from the "new york times." as the rift deepens, senator kerry has a warning for pakistan. let me begin with that headline and ask you the state of u.s.-pakistan relations. guest: i don't think it's been as bad as it is now for many years