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Mike Huckabee on Civil Liberties and Domestic Security
"This war is not a conventional war, and these terrorists are not a conventional enemy. The first priority of a president - as Commander in Chief - is to protect our own citizens. While we live in a neighborhood of nations, and must strive to be good neighbors, as president my top priority has to be to ensure the peace, safety and well-being of American citizens at home and abroad."
"It should give some pause to the president's most vocal critics who have said this is unnecessary, to engage in surveillance and to try to really do a thorough job of intelligence gathering. Because clearly, intelligence gathering is exactly what gave the authorities the opportunity to apprehend these people before they were able to carry out their intentions,"
"Q: But the argument isn't so much the physical condition as to the legal system that they face. These suspected terrorists, these detainees are being held, by and large, without charges, without any evidence. They're just being kept there indefinitely. A: I understand that. There's not a perfect solution. The perfect solution is to get people to quit being terrorists. If we're going to make a mistake right now, let's make it on the side of protecting the American people"
CNN Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer (presidential series) Jun 10, 2007
"I'll tell you, if we let somebody out and it turns out that they come and fly an airliner into one of our skyscrapers, we're going to be asking, how come we didn't stop them? We had them detained,"
"Waterboarding is torture, and torture violates the moral code of Americans and jeopardizes the country's security. We should aggressively interrogate terrorism suspects and go after those who seek to do the country harm, but when we go to the point of violating our own moral code, then instead of advancing our country, its safety and our security, we in fact jeopardize it...What we don't get is reliable information. What we do get is a challenged soldier who has participated in something that goes against not only his or her own moral code but against our own sense of justice in this country."
"If we're going to make a mistake right now, let's make it on the side of protecting the American people"
CNN Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer (presidential series) Jun 10, 2007
John McCain and Ron Paul have been the only Republican candidates who said they are opposed to the concept of "enhanced interrogation techniques". (9/27/2007)