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Ali Soufan, a former FBI counter-terrorism agent and interrogator, testified that President George W. Bush and Justice Department lawyers were wrong when they said that waterboarding and other tactics used on one suspect provided key pieces of intelligence about Al Qaeda after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Testifying from behind a screen to protect his identity, Soufan said the techniques, touted by the Bush administration as perhaps its most effective weapon against terrorism, were actually slow, ineffective and unreliable.
Another witness, Philip D. Zelikow, who was a legal advisor to then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, provided new details about what he said were his efforts to aggressively protest the use of the techniques in meetings in the White House situation room and elsewhere.
In each case, he said, he was routinely blocked by more senior administration officials and ordered to destroy a lengthy legal memo in which he outlined his concerns about the "unsound, even unreasonable" legal justifications for the tactics.
We were told we couldn't second-guess the brave CIA officers who did this, and now we hear that the program was led by private contractors with a profit motive and no real interrogation experience," Whitehouse said.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a lawyer in the Air Force Reserve, challenged Soufan and other witnesses to prove that the coercive interrogation techniques did not provide important information about Al Qaeda.
He suggested that hearings on the tactics and their legal foundations were "a political stunt" by the Democrats, and that their efforts to gather details of the classified program would dangerously undermine national security.
Some administration officials "made mistakes out of fear," and the government should learn from those mistakes but not prosecute or even investigate anyone for their role in them, Graham said.
After the hearing, Graham continued to protest the growing chorus of Democratic calls for investigations, noting that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) reportedly was briefed on at least some aspects of the classified program years ago.
"Should we have Nancy Pelosi here?" Graham asked. "Where does it end?"
Well, here is a case for total transparency. What was done in our nation's name?
obama already admitted the enhanced techniques yielded intelligence, further he never disputed cheney's claim that the techniques saved lives....and it is telling that obama released the memos but won't release the memos detailing the successes....
doosh bagh!!!!!All you people need to do is to prove the FACTS which impart THE WHOLE TRUTH.
Now you idiots claim
See how that works?
Now produce the evidence...
Otherwise you're just a big fat liar... of the 'pants on fire' variety...
Ali Soufan, a former FBI counter-terrorism agent and interrogator, testified that President George W. Bush and Justice Department lawyers were wrong when they said that waterboarding and other tactics used on one suspect provided key pieces of intelligence about Al Qaeda after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Testifying from behind a screen to protect his identity, Soufan said the techniques, touted by the Bush administration as perhaps its most effective weapon against terrorism, were actually slow, ineffective and unreliable.
He said that he and a CIA agent gleaned much, if not all, of the crucial information from suspected Al Qaeda chieftain Abu Zubaydah before the coercive techniques were initiated, including information on the key role of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed in the Sept. 11 attacks and the plot by alleged dirty bomber Jose Padilla.
Soufan, now a private security consultant, also said that outside contractors working for the CIA were the ones who used the coercive tactics, and that he and the CIA official working with him protested. The use of harsher methods by the contractors backfired, Soufan said, prompting Zubaydah to stop talking.
"I totally disagree with the assertion that there was a conflict between FBI and CIA. They were 100% supportive," Soufan said of the on-site CIA officials. "The chief psychologist objected to these techniques and left the location even before I did."
LOL... The left is ALL OVER this Torture thing.
Sadly they just can't support a word of it...
The effectiveness of the "enhanced" techniques.
The effectiveness of the "enhanced" techniques.
Whatever other effectiveness they've had aside, they have worked WONDERS at twisting the left's panties collectively in a bunch. What's this ... the 30th or 40th thread as if anyone has anything new to say.
The effectiveness of the "enhanced" techniques.
Whatever other effectiveness they've had aside, they have worked WONDERS at twisting the left's panties collectively in a bunch. What's this ... the 30th or 40th thread as if anyone has anything new to say.
Isn't the Bush/Cheney Admin the true gift that keeps on giving?
Effective or not, torture is illegal and always has been in the United States. General George Washington was the first to ban torture and it has been this high standard which gave America the moral high ground. We will not regain it until those responsible for these heinous acts are brought to justice.
if it doesn't, wouldn't Cheney be fucked by releasing the memos?obama already admitted the enhanced techniques yielded intelligence, further he never disputed cheney's claim that the techniques saved lives....and it is telling that obama released the memos but won't release the memos detailing the successes....
do any memos REALLY detail the success of the techniques?
We have the word of VP Cheney against the words of a few people who were actually there.
hmmmmmm, ....
Effective or not, torture is illegal and always has been in the United States. General George Washington was the first to ban torture and it has been this high standard which gave America the moral high ground. We will not regain it until those responsible for these heinous acts are brought to justice.
