What Hillary won't say about Torture [View All]

Nov. 2, 2007 | WASHINGTON -- The first fusillade at Hillary Clinton during the Democrats' feisty debate on Tuesday night came, as expected, from Barack Obama. But it included an unexpected subject. Obama called Clinton a flip-flopper on torture. "She has taken one position on torture several months ago, and then most recently has taken a different position," he fired.

At first blush it seemed like an odd attack on Clinton, who has emphasized her "clear" opposition to torture. But while Clinton continues to inch closer to the rest of the Democratic pack in her positions on the subject, her stance on torture isn't as ironclad as it appears. Compared to her competitors for the Democratic presidential nomination, she has often been vague, relying on broad condemnations of "torture." As Obama noted during the debate, she has changed positions on her support for harsh interrogation in a ticking-time-bomb scenario. And she has not addressed the ethics of the CIA rendition program as it existed under her husband's administration.

Because of the ambiguities, Salon recently asked for Clinton's specific positions on three issues central to the torture debate. The candidate responded with her most detailed answers to date, again underscoring her opposition to torture and moving closer to the other Democratic candidates. However, her answers still contained wiggle room. Only on one specific point, so-called black sites -- secret prisons -- was her reply definitive.

The differences between Clinton and her Democratic competitors have been most striking when it comes to the CIA, which institutionalized prisoner abuse after 9/11 through harsh interrogations at "black site" prisons. The agency has also secreted terror suspects to third-party countries for torture through so-called renditions.
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http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/11/02/hillary/