Bush Defends CIA ‘Patriots’ on Eve of Senate’s ‘Torture Report’

Melissa Quinn / December 08, 2014

Ahead of the release of a report detailing anti-terrorism actions taken by the Central Intelligence Agency during his two terms in the White House, former President George W. Bush yesterday called the men and women who work there “patriots” and any findings that diminish their work “way off base.”

The Senate Intelligence Committee is expected to release its report on the CIA tomorrow. The “torture report,” so dubbed by some in the media, has been depicted as concluding that Bush did not know details of “enhanced interrogation” techniques used on terror suspects after the 9/11 attacks.

But although some Bush White House officials are said to have encouraged the former president to distance himself from the CIA, Bush instead defended the agency’s officials and operatives in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“We’re fortunate to have men and women who work hard at the CIA, serving on our behalf,” Bush told host Candy Crowley. “These are patriots.”

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