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McCain Speech Against Torture Dismantles Ted Cruz Talking Points

Phillip Martin
Yesterday, the U.S. Senate released a report on CIA torture practices. In response, Republican Senator John McCain, a survivor of torture himself, lauded the report with a speech in which he said "...the American people have a right - indeed a responsibility - to know what was done in their name."
 
Ted Cruz disagrees.
 
Here's what happened:  Mother Jones highlights the most egregious parts of the report, and summarizes:

In plain English: The torture was far more brutal than we thought, and the CIA lied about that. It didn't work, and they lied about that too. It produced so much bad intel that it most likely impaired our national security, and of course they lied about that as well. They lied to Congress, they lied to the president, and they lied to the media.

Ted Cruz showcased his weakness and inexperience on foreign policy by pivoting to a partisan attack, and not even weighing the merits of the report (enough to make us wonder if the Senator even read it).
 
Cruz suggested that releasing the report could damage troop morale and put the U.S. in danger.
 
Senator McCain ripped Cruz's argument to shreds with this floor speech:

“Terrorists might use the report’s re-identification of the practices as an excuse to attack Americans, but they hardly need an excuse for that. That has been their life’s calling for a while now.

Senator McCain goes on to defend the public's right to hold government accountable and for the people to know the truth:

“The truth is sometimes a hard pill to swallow...but the American people are entitled to it, nonetheless.

“They must know when the values that define our nation are intentionally disregarded by our security policies, even those policies that are conducted in secret. They must be able to make informed judgments about whether those policies and the personnel who supported them were justified in compromising our values; whether they served a greater good; or whether, as I believe, they stained our national honor, did much harm and little practical good...

“Our enemies act without conscience. We must not. This executive summary of the Committee’s report makes clear that acting without conscience isn’t necessary, it isn’t even helpful, in winning this strange and long war we’re fighting. We should be grateful to have that truth affirmed.
Here is a list of some of the most outrageous abuses that John McCain railed against and Ted Cruz didn't want you to know about:
  • Making detainees stand on broken feet
  • Threats to sexually assault the mothers of a detainee
  • Keeping detainees awake for 180 hours (more than a week) straight
  • Torturing people before even asking them to cooperate
Ted Cruz's foreign policy approach is entirely political, demonstrating a concerning lack of experience when it comes to one of the most important aspects of the office Cruz is probably going to run for.
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