NY State Senator Defends Calling For 'Torture' Of Boston Bombing Suspect
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A New York state senator is advocating torture to extract information from terror suspects, including the man accused of the Boston Marathon bombing.
Republican Sen. Greg Ball of the Hudson Valley had taken heat for his Twitter posting Friday. He asked who wouldn't want to use
torture against the second suspect in the bombing.
NY State Senator Defends Calling For 'Torture' Of Boston Bombing Suspect
He continued to push the position in a tweet and a news release. He said he's not shy about joining those who believe torture is justified to save lives.
"On most days, New York State is terrorist target #1, and playing paddy cake with mass murdering killers is not effective in my opinion," he said in the news release. "In the war against these sick cowards who seek to harm innocent men, women and children, information can and often does save lives. Terrorists play by a different set of rules by manipulating the greatest strengths of our open society against us. One of the questions to be asked is this: is 'torture' ever justified in the war against terror, if it can save lives? I am not shy in joining those who say yes, and I believe we must give those tasked with protecting us every constitutional and effective tool to do so."
He said that includes suspects apprehended in the United States by civil authorities.
Ball defended his comments again Monday morning on Fox News.
"I think a lot of politicians are, quite honestly, full of crap -- they're scared to say how they feel and I basically said what I believe a lot of red-blooded Americans felt," he told Fox News. "And it comes down to this -- when you talk about terrorism, information matters and if getting that information, including torture, would save one innocent life, including that we've seen children, would you use torture? And I could tell you I would be first in line."
Ball said the Boston incident shows this may be a new normal and Americans should see it as a wake-up call to use a different set of rules.
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