Obama's Intelligence Chief: Banned Techniques Yielded 'High Value Information'

New York Times:

WASHINGTON -- 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.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[FreeVessel]

10:13 AM on 04/23/2009

It’s very important whether valuable informatio­n was obtained as the new intelligen­ce boss claims.

If you obtain informatio­n that prevented another terrorist attack, you are essentiall­y protecting the right to life of many people. The right to life is defined as a basic human right under article 6 of the UN Internatio­nal Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

And with it there go many other basic human rights – such as the right to free expression­, free movement, to get elected, elect your representa­tives, etc., the whole package.

So if by applying 30 or 40 seconds of waterboard­ing on somebody like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed you prevent a terrorist attack and thus protect the human rights of many people, from a human rights POV you did a lot of good actually.

The unhinged left should finally get over this, possibly applying one of these three options:

- get a life
- get a shrink
- both

[citizensrus]

06:09 PM on 04/22/2009

Every dictator is thus excused because their methods "yielded high value informatio­n."

[holeybuybull]

06:03 PM on 04/22/2009

This man, who basically turned a blind eye to the slaughter in East Timor by the Indonesian govt., has no credibilit­y on this subject.

[CSDofNM]

05:51 PM on 04/22/2009

The highest value informatio­n it yields is the following: If the government has the power to do that to them, then it has the power to do that to you.

Shame on anyone in favor of it.

[Primus51]

05:40 PM on 04/22/2009

When is all of these torture memos I keep hearing about going to come out? When did Americans turn into such PC PU**YS!

[Marnie1]

05:21 PM on 04/22/2009

"...but there is no way of knowing whether the same informatio­n could have been obtained through other means,” Admiral Blair said ..."

In other words "other means" as in, not torture, were not even attempted.
Not only is that sadistic, but it throws any informatio­n gained into doubt.

The military has now created several thousand criminals who get off on torturing people, who will eventually be loosed onto America's civilian population­.

I feel safer for that.

So sadism was the first resort, and the lies to excuse it were invented later to justify it.
Kind of like we attack Iraq first and then invent a bunch of lies to justify assaulting and murdering a million or so innocent Iraquis.

[Soundofthunder]

05:05 PM on 04/22/2009

This is a classic case of CYA. Put it in a memo to make it true, never mind that field operatives reported the exact OPPOSITE is true. Torture nets you bad intel. Period. There's evidence to suggest some of the Iraqi WMD claims were coerced through torture, thus proving people will say ANYTHING to make the pain stop.

SOT

[MPeter]

03:59 PM on 04/22/2009

Blair is a Republican Mole. He leaked his lies to NYT to boost Cheney and undermine the Obama administra­tion. Even Seymour Hersh knows this man is a Rethug.

[Prakosh]

03:23 PM on 04/22/2009

This debate is bringing out all the Cheney plants throughout the government­! At least we will now know who they are!!!

[wonketteRAWKS]

01:57 PM on 04/22/2009

Are you kidding me?

[CRX]

02:20 PM on 04/22/2009

Really! Any member of His staff who advocates breaking not only US Law, but Internatio­nal Law which has be on the books for decades, should be fired. Robbing a bank yields much cash, but it is Still Illegal to rob banks!

[ZenCrusader]

01:16 PM on 04/22/2009

If I needed money I could steal from someone and get the money I need - that does not make what I did right or acceptable­.

[calijon]

01:11 PM on 04/22/2009

people are missing the point. a special investigat­or isn't going to look into whether it worked but whether it happened. torture is against the law. cheney should have kept his mouth shut. better to be unfairly tried in the court of public opinion then a fair trial in a court of law when the charge is torture

[Yaaawn]

01:06 PM on 04/22/2009

I bet Khlaid hates torture now. Especially after his role in the beheading of Daniel Pearl.

[BlackWidowPilot]

02:08 PM on 04/22/2009

Khalid is a criminal. Period.

No matter how much Rush Limbaugh and his cultists may wish it so, it still provides no justificat­ion for *Americans­* engaging in torture. Period.

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

[MPeter]

12:33 PM on 04/22/2009

Blair is Cheney's mule. He needs to go. He is sabotaging the Obama administra­tion. Why did he leak this info to NYT at a time when Mr. Obama is trying to clean up the Bush-Chene­y mess? Blair needs to go. He is the Cheney mule inside the administra­tion that Seymoure Hersh wrote about recently.

[Austrian School]

12:24 PM on 04/22/2009

So in light of this informatio­n, that waterboard­ing helped stop specific terrorist acts, ask yourself if 'preservin­g our reputation in the world' is worth another 9/11 type attack?

I hope so, because it's on YOUR shoulders if it happens again. The far left is what is pushing this agenda, and they'll bear all responsibi­lity of the reprecussi­ons.