UPDATED: Interrogation expert: Waterboarding set back bin Laden hunt by a couple of years
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UPDATED: Interrogation expert: Waterboarding set back bin Laden hunt by a couple of years
UPDATE: Here's the story, which is getting a wildly enthusiastic response so far (thank you!). Meanwhile, because so many of my commenters and emailers have expressed an open mind about both the effectiveness and the morality of torture, I thought you'd also like to read this excellent editorial in the New York Times:
There are many arguments against torture. It is immoral and illegal and counterproductive. The Bush administration’s abuses — and ends justify the means arguments — did huge damage to this country’s standing and gave its enemies succor and comfort. If that isn’t enough, there is also the pragmatic argument that most experienced interrogators think that the same information, or better, can be obtained through legal and humane means.
No matter what Mr. Yoo and friends may claim, the real lesson of the Bin Laden operation is that it demonstrated what can be done with focused intelligence work and persistence.
Here's a tease from my article in tomorrow's Daily News about the tortured debate over torture (link whenever it goes online):
Indeed, one former senior Air Force interrogator from the Iraq war, who has written two books under the pseudonym Matthew Alexander, told the Daily News last night he believes that the waterboarding of top bin Laden aides in the early 2000s may have actually slowed down the search by a couple of years.
Alexander — author of the recent Kill or Capture: How a Special Operations Task Force Took Down a Notorious al Qaeda Terrorist — said that waterboarding bin Laden aide Khalid Sheikh Mohammed phony leads about the terrorist’s courier, and a second al-Qaeda higher-up gave agents a fake name. “That led to the CIA wasting time and resources,” he said.
Do I mention yesterday that torture doesn't work, in addition to being illegal and immoral. I believe that I did.
Regarding the Leon Panetta comments that so many of you have made sure that I know about, I think the CIA director's actual words are pretty ambiguous and inconclusive (and Michael Smerconish, a longtime advocate of, ahem, "enhanced interrogation" agrees; he told me in an email for my article that "Panetta seemed to hedge with Brian Williams"). Remember, Panetta sees his mission as improving the morale of agents who were ordered to conduct the Bush-era torture -- which is why he's not the torture-blaster he was before taking the post. He also said it's an "open question" whether torture produces intel you can't get otherwise; Alexander told me what other skilled interrogators have also said: That torture produces lies and useless information.
But like Journey always said, don't stop believin', you torture enthusiasts out there.
This is classic. Eric Holder has no chance of lasting until the 2012 election:
"
The killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden by U.S. military forces was an act of national self-defense and he made no attempt to surrender, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said on Wednesday.
"It was justified as an act of national self-defense," Holder told the Senate Judiciary Committee, citing bin Laden's admission of being involved in the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
"If he had surrendered, attempted to surrender, I think we should obviously have accepted that, but there was no indication that he wanted to do that and therefore his killing was appropriate," he said.
"— Mr. Smith- So because one guy, who is obviously against the use of waterboarding, says he thinks - not he knows for sure - that it wasn't useful, that's all you need to indict that particular method of interrogation as illegal, immoral and useless?
Sounds like sound journalism to me.
Oh, wait, you're not a journalist - you're paid to spout your own opinions in hopes that like-minded people will buy the paper for which you write. And people like you bash Fox News?— Watching and Waiting - Again, we have the likes of baitkins calling our military "liars." Every military interrogator says torture doe snot produce results, yet these frightie lovers continue to say it does. So, the logical conclusion is that conservatives hate the military thesy so say they love so much. Faceit, conservatives can't live with the idea of being the big man on the block who has to push everybody around to make up for his shortcomings.— mike l
- The simple fact is that Obama succeeded in doing what Bush failed to do for nearly eight years. That's driving the conservatives crazy, so they are grasping at anything to avoid giving Obama full credit.— burelclerk
- Technically, Will Bunch is right. The interrogators asked the water boarding subjects for information about Bin Laden during waterboarding, but all the terrorists would say is "bggrgleggrulrggrrg". So, they had to wait until their sinuses and trachea cleared before the information was actually learned.— Mr. Smith
Comment removed.- Those a-holes killed 3,000+ people and you're up in arms over a little waterboarding! They should have skinned those creeps alive!!!— gmuny2002
- Hey Will, Obama's story about the raid seems to be falling apart. First Osama was armed, then he wasn't. And the White House even used the word "captured" on their Facebook post. So we captured him and then shot him? Sounds like Obama needs a good lawyer.— Captain Terrific
- In order to be a "torture enthusiast", what I'm enthusiastic about must qualify as torture. This does not.— jmc
- Will, I'd like to see you tell a crowd of 9/11 widows and orphans that the actions taken by the Bush administration was all in vain. Yes, it's Bush that we should all be thanking today. Or better yet, that Kerry would definitely have done differently and produced a better result (answer: no chance). Will, you are a louse.
- Comment removed.
I give Obama credit for getting the job done but neither he nor Bush deserves full credit both made decisions which helped nail this scum.
Maybe people should remember the REAL credit goes to Seal Team 6 and the rest of our military, intelligence and law enforcement personnel. Neither Bush or Obama interrogated a detainee, followed up on lead after lead, and neither of them sure as $h!t didn't repel from a helicopter into a hostile environment.
burelclerk, only a partisan would think either President deserves FULL credit.— bird11- Amen to that. But just imagine the uproar if Obama announced the killing of bin Laden in full jumpsuit from the deck of the Navy Seals' ship.
- MSL is going to Ground Zero today that much different? Both are political shows and both have/will produce a backlash (is that word copywrited . Until people realize Presidents get way to much credit/blame for what happens the partisan political cycle will never end. — bird11
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