The leaders of the Pentagon on Thursday declined to wade into the debate over whether waterboarding and other enhanced interrogation techniques should be revived for intelligence purposes, after Republican front-runner Donald Trump said he wants to bring torture back because it “torture works.”
Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., asked Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Joseph Dunford for their take on Trump’s recent comments. But Carter cut her off and said he would not get into the political debate, and that he wouldn’t let Dunford do so either.
“I feel very strongly that our department needs to stand apart from the electoral season, so I respectfully decline to answer any questions that arise from the political debate going on. I just don’t think that’s appropriate,” Carter told members of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense.
Dunford went on to speak about military values more broadly, and said the military represents the values of the American people.
“We should never apologize for going to war with the values of the American people,” Dunford said. “That’s what makes me proud to wear this uniform.”
“I’m assuming the values of the American people do not include torture,” McCollum retorted.
The Minnesota congresswoman also took issue with the fact that Carter and Dunford had talked about the administration’s highly-political plan to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center earlier in the hearing without any objection.
