I like Russ Feingold. I like that he read the Patriot Act before supporting it. I like that he was an early supporter of marriage equality. I saw him speakat UCLA law school a few years back. He is personable and genuine.
Senator Feingold recently sat down in Madison with Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman and said that he is ‘not satisfied’ with President Obama’s plans to withdraw American troops from Iraq.
Feingold told Goodman that Obama’s Iraq plan is better than the Bush plan;
but the idea of leaving a force of 50,000 troops there that includes not just what I consider to be legitimate purposes, such as protecting our troops or fighting counterterrorism, but also a huge undefined idea of training Iraqi troops, to me, is way more than was anticipated or campaigned on, and I’d like to see the President drop that piece.
When asked his thoughts about Obama expanding the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Feingold was ‘pleased’ that the President has identified Pakistan as the greater threat than Afghanistan calling it "an important improvement over the tunnel vision of the Bush administration."
Why would you increase the troop force in Afghanistan by 21,000 troops, when you haven’t even figured out exactly how to control the situation in Pakistan? The leaders of al-Qaeda are in Pakistan. The leaders of the Taliban are in Pakistan. Why would you create this further environment that is perceived as occupation in Afghanistan? I think it’s counterproductive. I think it may make the situation in Pakistan worse.
The Senator called Obama’s invocation of state secrets "an area of great disappointment, surprising" adding;
the President is using the state secrets privilege in a way that reminds us exactly of the Bush administration.
He went on to say that he was pleased with the President’s statement that waterboarding is torture. When asked by Goodman if the President had an obligation to prosecute those who were involved, the Senator stated,
I do not believe people can say, ‘Well, they were just offering their valid legal opinions.’ They are not valid legal opinions. They are not reasonable legal opinions. They are outrageous legal opinions. And I certainly, for one, hope that there’s serious consideration of prosecution in some of those cases.
The Senator went on to say that while he prefers to see former Bush assistant attorney general and torture memo author Jay Bybee resign his position on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, he "would not rule out impeachment."