April 15, 2009: Former Deputy Secretary of State: Had He Known of Bush Administration Torture, He Hopes He Would Have Resigned

Former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, who served during President Bush’s first term, says had he known that the Bush administration authorized torture while he was in office, the right thing to do would have been to resign. “I hope, had I known about it at the time I was serving, I would’ve had the courage to resign,” he tells an Al Jazeera television interviewer. During the interview, host Avi Lewis asks, “So when you knew that the administration of which you were a part was departing from the Geneva Conventions and sidelining them, why didn’t you quit?” Armitage responds: “In hindsight maybe I should’ve. But in those positions you see how many more battles you have. You maybe fool yourself. You say how much worse would X, Y, or Z be if I weren’t here trying to do it? So torture is a matter of principle as far as I’m concerned. I hope, had I known about it at the time I was serving, I would’ve had the courage to resign.” [Huffington Post, 4/15/2009]