John McCain: Torture Did Not Lead To Osama Bin Laden (VIDEO)

WASHINGTON – The top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committees is insisting that enhanced interrogation techniques were not a factor in the discovery of Osama bin Laden's whereabouts and he rejected any form of torture.

In a speech on the Senate floor on Thursday, Arizona's John McCain said that waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques are not necessary to the U.S. success in the war on terror.

“It was not torture, or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of detainees that got us the major leads that ultimately enabled our intelligence community to find Osama bin Laden,” he said.

The Arizona senator said former Attorney General Michael Mukasey was wrong when he claimed harsh interrogation had led to bin Laden. McCain said he got the facts from CIA Director Leon Panetta and they contradicted Mukasey's claim.

McCain addressed his opposition to torture and said it did not play a role in the search for bin Laden in a Washington Post op-ed published on Wednesday:

I asked CIA Director Leon Panetta for the facts, and he told me the following: The trail to bin Laden did not begin with a disclosure from Khalid Sheik Mohammed, who was waterboarded 183 times. The first mention of Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti — the nickname of the al-Qaeda courier who ultimately led us to bin Laden — as well as a description of him as an important member of al-Qaeda, came from a detainee held in another country, who we believe was not tortured. None of the three detainees who were waterboarded provided Abu Ahmed’s real name, his whereabouts or an accurate description of his role in al-Qaeda.

In fact, the use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” on Khalid Sheik Mohammed produced false and misleading information. He specifically told his interrogators that Abu Ahmed had moved to Peshawar, got married and ceased his role as an al-Qaeda facilitator — none of which was true. According to the staff of the Senate intelligence committee, the best intelligence gained from a CIA detainee — information describing Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti’s real role in al-Qaeda and his true relationship to bin Laden — was obtained through standard, noncoercive means.

McCain was a prisoner of war for five and a half years in North Vietnam. He said the U.S. should not compromise its deepest values by using torture tactics.

Via ABC News comes video of McCain's remarks on the Senate floor.

WATCH:

Comments

[sensiblediscussion]

11:36 PM on 05/21/2011

These former Bush-men who defend their sacred waterboarding methods are well educated and should know that there is is no evidence supporting this type of torture. So why do they continue to defend it's use and reinstatement? Their desire to normalize this practice may be in part to justify their use in the past and avoid charges of war crimes because they have violated the Geneva Convention. It's important for the present administration to pursue prosecution of anyone in the former Bush administration that were responsible for ordering the use of such methods.
http://politicsdisgust.blogspot.com

[sc29403]

03:55 AM on 05/17/2011

Good to see the ole John McCain back in action. He was a great Republican before he became a "Republican ala the Republican Party". I never saw a man lose his principles faster than when he got the party's nomination. What a shame. They gave him his last chance to run and he compromised everything that he truly is to get that chance. I felt sorry for him, but I am impressed that he has stood up and been his own man on this issue.

[PistovAmerican]

09:14 PM on 05/15/2011

Even though he's flip-flopped on many important issues, it's good to see McCain on the right side of this issue- one that he, sadly, has actual firsthand experience with. Maybe he can redeem his old self. It actually gives me (guarded) hope.

[Huff - craze]

02:18 PM on 05/15/2011

Way to go John McCain. And America stop being stupid. The world regain peace b'cause of this. I like what Mathew Dowed said, " Our opponent is not terrorism but the divisions between us."

[Pandora1]

01:50 AM on 05/15/2011

Well, it's good to see our ex-roqueish Senator get back to telling the truth.... I commend him for clarifying the Repug's claims for what they are -- pure hogwash (a contradiction in terms, surely) and yet another desperate attempt to garner kudos when none are due. Keep it up McCain, and perhaps you can reclaim your "honored" status once again -- even if you are a Republican!

[Brant Kelsey]

04:20 PM on 05/14/2011

Your kidding me right? Torture didn't lead to the Capture of Bin Laden?

This country has been tortured for the last 10 years, tortured with failed mid-east policies, tortured with the deaths of our Soldiers. Tortured by the lies and deceits of McCain and his Cronies.
Tortured by the 7 billion dollars a week for these revisionist colonial forays into regime change. And on and on: To suggest torture didn't result in the capture of Bin Laden when it is the very policies of those who have tortured us that created Bin Laden. And the torture is further exacerbated by the plethora of additional "waterboarding" as we are sustained in the illusion of drowning by the droning on about the guys porn, his pot, and his wives.
Face it We have been tortured, and continue to be tortured. Yeah there's plenty of torture to go around, and Bin Laden's capture is simply and example of how sophisticated and enhanced these techniques have become.

[dzadzey]

07:10 AM on 05/14/2011

Every member of the Bush administration who has claimed credit for bin Laden's death because they authorized the use of torture stands repudiated by John McCain. It now falls to the Obama administration and Eric Holder to prosecute those members of the Bush administration for their crimes.

[Mamadiez]

11:18 PM on 05/13/2011

wow, for once I agree with McCain. Maybe there's still a bit of the pre '08 McCain left in the old guy.

[rainkitty]

07:23 PM on 05/13/2011

Ineffective Idea: Torture
http://republicandirtytricks.com/republicans-champion-yet-another-ineffective-idea-torture/

[Coco Powers]

06:28 PM on 05/13/2011

Thank you Senator McCain.

[Bfair]

05:56 PM on 05/13/2011

Watching John McCain making this speech made me feel nostalgic for the John McCain we used to love. You know, the same one who supported campaign finance reform? I wish that John McCain would come back. I'd forgive him.

[ElBruce]

05:49 PM on 05/13/2011

Hey look, he's against torture today. It's always nice when some of his his opinion cycles coincide with common decency.

[ruthtruth]

05:44 PM on 05/13/2011

I watched McCain when he stood up and said this and I was so glad that he had the courage to come out with the truth. The right must have messed in their pants during his speech.

[Judith Ford]

05:43 PM on 05/13/2011

Kuddos to Mccain for having enough class to tell the truth.

[max]

05:29 PM on 05/13/2011

Republicans want to replace the bald eagle with a hooded man standing on a box with elctrodes on his genitals