Banned Techniques Yielded ‘High Value Information,’ Memo Says (Full, unedited memo released)

NY Times ^ | 4/21/09 | Peter Baker

[jimbo123]

President Obama’s national intelligence director told colleagues in a private memo last week that the harsh interrogation techniques banned by the White House did produce significant information that helped the nation in its struggle with terrorists.

“High value information came from interrogations in which those methods were used and provided a deeper understanding of the al Qa’ida organization that was attacking this country,” Adm. Dennis C. Blair, the intelligence director, wrote in a memo to his staff last Thursday.

-snip-

Admiral Blair’s assessment that the interrogation methods did produce important information was deleted from a condensed version of his memo released to the media last Thursday. Also deleted was a line in which he empathized with his predecessors who originally approved some of the harsh tactics after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

[piasa]

MAY 2010 : (OBAMA FIRES HIS DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE, DENNIS BLAIR ... AFTER BLAIR TOLD HIS COLLEAGUES IN A PRIVATE MEMO THAT HARSH INTERROGATION TECHNIQUES BANNED BY THE WHITE HOUSE LED TO HIGH VALUE INFORMATION USEFUL IN UNDERSTANDING AL QAEDA)

Thought I would bump this in light of McCain and other Senators coming out against Zero Dark Thirty for its portrayal of such interrogation as critical to getting OBL.