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CIA Director: Torture Did Not Lead To Osama Bin Laden
John McCain writes:
I
asked CIA Director Leon Panetta for the facts, and he told me the
following: The trail to bin Laden did not begin with a disclosure from
Khalid Sheik Mohammed, who was waterboarded 183 times. The first mention
of Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti — the nickname of the al-Qaeda courier who
ultimately led us to bin Laden — as well as a description of him as an
important member of al-Qaeda, came from a detainee held in another
country, who we believe was not tortured. None of the three detainees
who were waterboarded provided Abu Ahmed’s real name, his whereabouts or
an accurate description of his role in al-Qaeda.
In fact, the
use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” on Khalid Sheik Mohammed
produced false and misleading information. He specifically told his
interrogators that Abu Ahmed had moved to Peshawar, got married and
ceased his role as an al-Qaeda facilitator — none of which was true.
According to the staff of the Senate intelligence committee, the best
intelligence gained from a CIA detainee — information describing Abu
Ahmed al-Kuwaiti’s real role in al-Qaeda and his true relationship to
bin Laden — was obtained through standard, noncoercive means.
And see this:
While Senator McCain is a Republican and Leon Panetta a Democrat, this
is not a partisan issue. George Washington - the father of our country
before there were any parties - was against torture. Torture is simply un-American.
And
the multitude of high-level interrogators working for the military and
intelligence agencies who have said that torture produces bad
intelligence come from across the ranks of the Republican, Democratic
and independent parties.
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How about you take his terminal throat cancer?
and your point is?
I think his point may be, both you and the other anti-American, GW, should fall ill. If that was not his point, it is mine. Both of you suck!
Inescapable logic ... or lack thereof
All the shitheads on fox have been running to protect the like of the war criminals cheney and bush,but war criminals they are. They can stand it that Obama got his man!
And the moral difference between waterboarding and shooting an unarmed man in the face without due process is what specificlly?
+1
Be waterboarded 183 times or have to read one of "George Washington's" columns. Hmmm. Decisions, decisions.
Tyler,
When are you going to pull this pretentious piece of fuck's ticket? His expropriation of the most revered name in American history is enough to make me want to puke, but when that is added to the fact that his lefty ramblings would insult the intelligence of a box turtle, it absolutely hurts to read his shit. Why doesn't the fucker just get a job at Media Matters, CAP or PAW and disappear into well-deserved obscurity?
Jesus Fucking Christ.
It's a shame that you don't care about Pat Tilman half as much. McCain is just another stupid who got caught. Pat Tilman gave up so much more. Yet most don't want to talk about him because our military lied about his death.
Yes, McCain deserves honor. But just because somebody was captured and tortured dosen't make him the most revered name in History. He is a patriot because he served. Most revered name in American history. LOL on that. He is pathetic that he fiip flops on his own words, His Own Words. His nick name should be Switch McCain. I switch my position everyday. I don't stand firm on any position. You see, McCain said, he is against torture.
My brother died because of his service in Viet Nam. I don't see anybody waving his name in history books. McCain is a story. That's it. Like I said, he should be honored for his service. Not his views. He served so You or George could have your view.
And on torture, in case your interested. I say fuck yes if it is needed to protect our nation in isolated situations. The problem is, we don't need to make it a issue and have debates so we can have mass events of it. That I am against. Our military has always done it when necessary. The difference is Nobody knew it or should they.
I'd like to get involved in this party.
You get waterboarded, while I read the columns for you!
USA, USA, USA, USA,USA, USA, USA, USA!!!!!
I say waterboard Panetta, Cheney, and Rumsfeld. Let's get to the bottom of this!
why are we going through these chronic remorse and pseudo honest shenanigans that should be part of 'desperate housewives' rather than honest discussion about good governance? The US political system has fallen so low that the third world leaders are comfortable in their company...not as Oligarchs but as political peers...they are truly in that league. And there is no other truth in this dirty world that is that close to absolute.
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/42880435/ns/today-today_news/t/cia-chief-w...
I don't quite see the point of these kinds of arguments.
If we had obtained the info on OBL by renditioning one his wives or daughters and then raping her repeatedly until she gave him up, would the same idiots be out there trying to convince the public that systematic rape is a valid intelligence tool that's vitally important to our foreign policy? By John Yoo's definition, repeatedly raping someone doesn't even qualify as torture.
If you would hold someone's head underwater, why not push it a little further?
Why just rely on torture of the detained?
Why not torture the detained prisoner's family and children?
These are American lives we're talking about right?
Are you saying that putting one little boy's genitals in a vice is not worth saving the lives of 3000 AMERICANS?
The whole spectacle is immoral, barbaric, and disgusting.
that article's being a bit disingenious. It even states:
"I use the example of Sept 10th, 2001, if we had captured [9/11 airplane hijacker] Mohammed Atta and we knew he was going to kill thousands of Americans but we didn't know when or where, are we saying now you wouldn't hold his head under water to save 3000 lives?"
ok, well those Gitmo detainees that supposedly 'gave up' where Osama was have been in custody probably longer than Osama lived in that complex.
Not to mention the fact that the excuse for torture is 'time sensitive' information (as in the example above). However where was the time sensitivity in this case? They say Osama was living there for 5(?) years? If it was time critical to torture someone to get this information why did it take so long to find him after this torture.
And since torture is perfectly legal to extract confessions, I'm guessing the Vietnam war 'confessions' on TV and the Gulf War (1) pilots truly are guilty, not to mention the British incursion into Iran. Since they only confessed the truth (after being tortured)!
http://news.scotsman.com/politics/Humiliated-and-shaking-was-she.3358291.jp
(look up John Peters, John Nichols, Andy McNab etc.)
disingenious? the article is directly from the white house press office