Trashes Trump and Cruz

Former CIA director trashes Trump and Cruz on national security

By Nick Gass

Former CIA Director Michael Hayden ripped into the proposals of two of the leading Republican presidential candidates on Monday, characterizing one as misinterpreting the cause of the United States and another as "immoral."

Appearing on "CBS This Morning," Hayden, who also served as the director of the National Security Agency from 1999 to 2005, addressed past remarks from both Donald Trump and Ted Cruz pumping up their national security credentials.

During the Feb. 6 Republican debate, Trump pledged that he would support waterboarding and would "bring back a hell of a lot worse." Last November, Trump told an audience in Columbus, Ohio, that waterboarding works. "Believe me, it works. And you know what? If it doesn't work, they deserve it anyway, for what they're doing. It works."

Hayden disputed that notion Monday, saying, "We never did anything to anyone because they deserved it."

"This was never looking backward. This was trying to keep Americans safe looking forward. People can argue about what we did, but it was never, never a form of punishment," he said.

Asked whether Cruz's frequent calls to "carpet-bomb ISIS into oblivion" would be feasible, Hayden was firm.

“No, and it would be immoral and it would be unworthy of a republic like ourselves," he said, remarking that the presidential debates are turning difficult, nuanced issues with shades of gray "into bumper stickers."