Posted on 04/23/2009 8:11:12 AM PDT by steve-b
For seven years I have remained silent about the false claims magnifying the effectiveness of the so-called enhanced interrogation techniques like waterboarding. I have spoken only in closed government hearings, as these matters were classified. But the release last week of four Justice Department memos on interrogations allows me to shed light on the story, and on some of the lessons to be learned.
One of the most striking parts of the memos is the false premises on which they are based. The first, dated August 2002, grants authorization to use harsh interrogation techniques on a high-ranking terrorist, Abu Zubaydah, on the grounds that previous methods hadn't been working. The next three memos cite the successes of those methods as a justification for their continued use.
It is inaccurate, however, to say that Abu Zubaydah had been uncooperative. Along with another F.B.I. agent, and with several C.I.A. officers present, I questioned him from March to June 2002, before the harsh techniques were introduced later in August. Under traditional interrogation methods, he provided us with important actionable intelligence.
We discovered, for example, that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. Abu Zubaydah also told us about Jose Padilla, the so-called dirty bomber. This experience fit what I had found throughout my counterterrorism career: traditional interrogation techniques are successful in identifying operatives, uncovering plots and saving lives.
There was no actionable intelligence gained from using enhanced interrogation techniques on Abu Zubaydah that wasn't, or couldn't have been, gained from regular tactics. In addition, I saw that using these alternative methods on other terrorists backfired on more than a few occasions — all of which are still classified....
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Maybe you'll get the Pulitzer next!
Why would one place a barf alert on an expert analysis?
Hmmmmmm... .
al-Taqqiyah from the al-NYT. *spit*
BARF TSUNAMI HAPPENING IMMEDIATELY!!
Only the NEW YORK SLIMES can sink this LOW! The alleged author is obviously a Kenyan cousin of Obama’s applying for a job in the dministration:-)
This statement alone discredits the entire article.
The appearance of classified information in the mainstream media does not automatically declassify it.
Unless he has been explicitly notified that the information has been declassified, he is still bound by the non-disclosure requirements.
In other words, this is probably fiction.
Who is “Ali Soufan” and why should I believe a word he says in the notoriously dishonest New York Times?
Lets see they rate of jobs lost under zero hits a new record!
Oh look TORTURE !!!!!
Good thing you got this crap in before the remainder of the NYSlimes' last $37 million's gone.
Timing's sometimes everything, eh Ali?
Looks like Carville, Begala, and Emanuel are working the Rollodex and spending more of that Soros money.
All of steve-b’s postings are missing the barf alert.
He has a habit of posting the typical memes that the msm is trying to provide, complete with selective facts.
I’ve become so accustomed to it that when I see “steve-b” I automatically think “barf alert.”
I assume that he’s alluding to as much as he is allowed to say in public, a la Dick Cheney.
Seems like I saw a couple dozen news stories in recent days about how well the ‘Hate America Times’ are doing these days.......
/sarc
Says who? What makes this muzzie the end all and be all in effective interrogation techniques? But I guess it must be so, after all it's in the New York Times...right?
Yep, the DUmp would be a better fit.
One of the worst consequences of the use of these harsh techniques was that it reintroduced the so-called Chinese wall between the C.I.A. and F.B.I., similar to the communications obstacles that prevented us from working together to stop the 9/11 attacks.
“It is inaccurate, however, to say that Abu Zubaydah had been uncooperative. Along with another F.B.I. agent, and with several C.I.A. officers present, I questioned him from March to June 2002, before the harsh techniques were introduced later in August. Under traditional interrogation methods, he provided us with important actionable intelligence.
We discovered, for example, that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. Abu Zubaydah also told us about Jose Padilla, the so-called dirty bomber. This experience fit what I had found throughout my counterterrorism career: traditional interrogation techniques are successful in identifying operatives, uncovering plots and saving lives.
There was no actionable intelligence gained from using enhanced interrogation techniques on Abu Zubaydah that wasn’t, or couldn’t have been, gained from regular tactics. In addition, I saw that using these alternative methods on other terrorists backfired on more than a few occasions — all of which are still classified....”
This discredits his article. Zubaydah gave info on KSM, but it was not until after he was water-boarded that he gave info that led the the ARREST of KSM.
Glad I could clear that up for the next person in line trying to make a million bucks off of the back of the Bush admin.
I’m sure the NYT will print a story tomorrow from the other experts that disagree this “expert”.
Speaking of Cheney, you don’t find it interesting that Cheney wants the REST of them released, or that the dems chose to release certain select items?
Keep drinking that KoolAid, steve-o!
They just can’t help themselves from continuing to polish that turd. It’s almost there!
I guarantee you he has an account there.
Hey steve, I'm a little confused. I missed the story listing all of those attacks that occurred on American soil after 9/11. Could you post the NY Times article that lists them? I think you would be performing a real service if you did that.
I’m still having an issue with waterboarding really being torture. To me getting burned, getting your nails pulled out, limbs chopped off, eyes gouged out, not to mention getting your head chopped off....now that is torture.
What are we supposed to do, take these guys to the nearest Four Seasons and make them eat steak?
“voices of divisiveness”?
If you’re going to insist on posting nonsense here, you can probably expect to be called on it.
Not quite sure how that’s divisive...
Yes, ALI. I believe everything you say. The Enemy Within.
Because they disagree with you?
How egotistical of you. You're as bad as Oshama.
Yep, SteveB doesn’t need a Barf Alert since he/she/it appears to just another BO-bitch.
He specifically called out the New York Times. "The number who believe 'almost nothing' in the newspaper is nearly identical to those who do believe," he told the subcommittee. "And while newspaper credibility has taken a hit among both Democrats and Republicans, it is lowest among Republicans with the Times having just a 10 percent credibility rating in that group. One person in 10? You could write graffiti on a wall and have more people believe you."
ALI SOUFAN???? Is he a DOUBLE AGENT???/ CREEP!
ALI SOUFAN???? Is he a DOUBLE AGENT???/ CREEP!
Unfortunately, the FBI hastily accumulated a number of Arab translators and informers, and many of them proved to be double agents, whose primary loyalty was to Islamic jihad, not to America.
If you read Ambrose Evans-Pritchard’s account of the OKC bombing in “The Secret Life of Bill Clinton,” you can get some sense of it.
I never heard of Ali Soufan before, but it’s perfectly obvious from reading this editorial where he stands. The only reason he ever hesitated to make these lying revelations for seven years is that he knew he’d get fired if he came out with them earlier. Now, with obama as president, he is safe to do so. Indeed, no doubt Obama brought him forward for just that purpose. “Tortured decision,” indeed. What a convenient headline for the torture crowd. What a liar.
The FBI, the CIA, and the Defense Department all have their share of Muslim moles. Check out the story of Hesham Islam, Gordon England’s little spy and saboteur in the Defense Department—who was evidently raised to the highest levels without ever undergoing an elementary background check, since it took only a little checking by a reporter to show that his official Pentagon biography was full of holes. And that happened under Bush, who was merely careless. Imagine what’s going to happen under Holy Hussein.
www.9news.com/news/world/article.aspx?storyid=70564
Whoah....
My take on this is that, although he was assigned to infiltrate this group, Soufan tried to sabatogue his own and the FBI's efforts.
What do you think ?
Cheney is under no such constraints. As Vice President, he did not have to submit to a background investigation and did not have to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
The NDA's are very specific about this: you don't say anything about it, unless specifically released. Although it was widely reported in the media, US submarine captains weren't allowed to talk about the methods they used to hunt Japanese ships in WW2 until the 1980's.
That or Soufan is as dumb as dumbO.
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