PARIS, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- Marine Le Pen, leader of France's far-right Front National, said Wednesday she believed torture is an appropriate method to make terrorists divulge information.
In an interview on French television's BFMTV, Le Pen, referring to the report on the CIA's use of torture after Sept. 11, 2001, presented Tuesday by the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee, said she "did not condemn" the use of torture on terrorism suspects.
"Of course [torture] can be used. It's been used throughout history. I believe that the people responsible for getting information out of terror suspects, that can save civilian lives, do a responsible job. There are times, such as if a bomb is about to go off, when it is useful to get a suspect to talk...by any means."
She later said, on her Twiiter account, she had been misinterpreted, noting, "'By any means' means within the law, so obviously not torture."
Her comments echoed those of her father, Front National founder Jean-Marie Le Pen, who was accused of torture as a French army soldier during Algeria's war for independence. In 2002 he told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, "We didn't crush the terrorists by being nice to them. The war against terrorism is a brutal thing."
