"I Need a Stiff Drink After That": John Negroponte on Being Questioned by Amy Goodman over Iraq War

During a conference Tuesday at Hofstra University that assessed the George W. Bush presidency, Amy Goodman asked panelists if senior administration officials should be tried for war crimes. Her question to former national intelligence director and U.S. ambassador to Iraq, John Negroponte, drew this response

Amy Goodman: "Do you think that, Mr. Negroponte, that knowing what we know today, the Iraq War was wrong? And do you think torture is wrong?"

John Negroponte: "Look, well, torture is never right. And ..."

Amy Goodman: "Do think the Bush administration was wrong to engage in it?"

John Negroponte: "I say torture is never right. That’s my first point. But my second point was, I’ll just stick with the way I felt during the time I lived through those events. And you can find quotes of what I said when I was ambassador to the U.N. I was asked if I thought we should use force in Iraq. And I said, well, in questions like this, I think we ought to approach the issue with a great deal of caution."

According to The Wall Street Journal, Negroponte continued to think about Goodman’s comments after the panel discussion was over. The article about the event ended with this remark:

"Boy, I need a stiff drink after that one," Mr. Negroponte told a small group of people after the panel on which he and Ms. Goodman served. "Double martini."

Watch Amy Goodman’s full address at the conference, along with a response from another panelist, former CIA Director Porter Goss

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