simplistic view. i hear it a lot, especially from people in the bush administration. they say, you know, this is really our success. we got bin laden because we used these harsh interrogation techniques that normal people call torture. if pete s reporting proves to be the case, this is human sources rather than the giant te technological sweep the bush administration tried to use and deploy. that included massive eavesdropping and the trolling through people at airports, which we still have to do today. the single focus of this administration from people like john brennan and the president that meant this has been focused much more precisely on al qaeda s core leadership. that s a policy decision. that s what s different about this administration because they weren t fighting years in iraq. and it s a law enforcement approach. there s that big controversy between the military approach and law enforcement, which is
the constitution and rights of individuals. it s what really distinguishes our country that many other places in the world, many other systems in the world. we tried the law enforcement approach as the sole approach to counterterrorism for many years. in fact had i was there that s what we did. after the bombingings in east africa we indicted osama bin laden and put him on the top ten list as if that would solve the problem. if he would have left his cave and walked into a post office somewhere in new york, i suppose we would have arrested him. but, of course, that isn t going to happen. the criminal justice has a place in counterterrorism but it s certainly not the sole weapon we need to employ. if the world was constructed differently, if we could have gone after anwar al-awlaki through the court process, the investigative law enforcement process, that would be wonderful but the world doesn t work that way. there are many places where terrorists and terrorist organizations are suppor
they say the obama administration is still, well, they re taking too much of a law enforcement approach to terrorism. so what are the senate republicans going to do about it? they ve actually blocked president obama s choice as deputy attorney general. his name is james cole. mr. cole is serving in that role right now as a recess appointment by the president but, of course, his tenure will expire at the end of the year if republicans don t stop playing politics. senate judiciary committee chairman pat leahy a democrat said for the first time in history a nominee to serve as a deputy attorney general, a key national security position, is facing a partisan filibuster. but the top republican on that committee chuck grassley said, i m seriously concerned about mr. cole s views on national security and terrorism.
waterboarding is not torture and they say the obama administration is still, well, they re taking too much of a law enforcement approach to terrorism. so what are the senate republicans going to do about it? they ve actually blocked president obama s choice as deputy attorney general. his name is james cole. mr. cole is serving in that role right now as a recess appointment by the president but, of course, his tenure will expire at the end of the year if republicans don t stop playing politics. senate judiciary committee chairman pat leahy a democrat said for the first time in history a nominee to serve as a deputy attorney general, a key national security position, is facing a partisan filibuster. but the top republican on that committee chuck grassley said, i m seriously concerned about mr. cole s views on national security and terrorism. it just never stops, does it? let s bring in counterterrorism intelligence expert and former master instructor and chief of
the training at the navy s school malcolm nance. survival evasion resistance and escape. this man wrote the book. good to see you tonight. good to be here. president obama just made the call to take down osama bin laden. and republicans are throwing a temper tantrum by blocking the confirmation of the deputy attorney general. what do you say about that? you know, i live in the middle east and every time i come back to the united states there is always something that raises my eyebrow. today i have to think, what is going on back here? you are politicizing one of the top officials who is responsible for the security of the united states, particularly with regard to counterterrorism. we don t have time for these games. we have now just kicked over the hornet s nest by killing bin laden. a lot of revenge attacks are probably being planned even as we speak but we have key people who aren t even in the position to defend this country. republicans are saying mr. cole takes too much o