Santorum: McCain 'Doesn't Understand' Interrogation

WASHINGTON -- Former Sen. Rick Santorum said Tuesday that Sen. John McCain, who spent 5 1/2 years enduring brutal treatment at the hands of his North Vietnamese captors, doesn't know how effective waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques can be. The Republican presidential contender insisted the tactics led the United States to al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

McCain, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a speech last week that waterboarding al-Qaida's No. 3 leader, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, did not provide information that led to bin Laden's compound in Pakistan.

McCain said he asked CIA Director Leon Panetta for the facts, and that the hunt for bin Laden did not begin with fresh information from Mohammed. In fact, the name of bin Laden's courier, Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, came from a detainee held in another country.

"Not only did the use of enhanced interrogation techniques on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed not provide us with key leads on bin Laden's courier, Abu Ahmed, it actually produced false and misleading information," McCain said.

In an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt on Tuesday, Santorum said McCain was wrong.

"Everything I've read shows that we would not have gotten this information as to who this man was if it had not been gotten information from people who were subject to enhanced interrogation," Santorum said. "And so this idea that we didn't ask that question while Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was being waterboarded, he (McCain) doesn't understand how enhanced interrogation works.

"I mean, you break somebody, and after they're broken, they become cooperative. And that's when we got this information. And one thing led to another, and led to another, and that's how we ended up with bin Laden," said Santorum.

He added: "Maybe McCain has better information than I do, but from what I've seen, it seems pretty clear that but for these cooperative witnesses who were cooperative as a result of enhanced interrogations, we would not have gotten bin Laden."

McCain, the 2008 Republican president nominee, said his information came from Panetta. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the chairwoman of the Senate intelligence committee, backed up McCain's assessment that waterboarding of Mohammed did not produce the tip that led to bin Laden.

Brooke Buchanan, a spokeswoman for McCain, said Tuesday she would not dignify Santorum's comments with a response.

In the House, Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., the chairman of the Intelligence committee, said the Justice Department should stop investigating CIA interrogators for alleged abuse of detainees under the Bush administration because their work was a "vital part of the chain" that led to the successful raid on bin Laden's hideout.

The Justice Department had no comment.

____

AP Intelligence Writer Kimberly Dozier contributed to this report.

Comments

[Jeffrey A Beard]

07:47 AM on 06/03/2011

Santorum, living up to his name…

[WilliamGossett]

09:36 AM on 05/29/2011

If anyone would understand interrogation it would be McCain.

[Red Leaves]

11:58 AM on 05/25/2011

So just how stupid is Senator Santorum? Rather stupid, incredibly stupid, or completely stupid?

[pfk3]

10:32 PM on 05/24/2011

Senator Santorum, you asked me once, what was in Room 101. I told you that you knew the answer already. Everyone knows it. The thing that is in Room 101 is the worst thing in the world.

[erikqj]

08:06 PM on 05/24/2011

Santorum is truly well named...

[Papa Prell]

11:49 AM on 05/22/2011

Wow, this reporter either didn't do his homework, or he deliberately left out the other half of the story. The former Attorney General Michael Mukasey (who, unlike Panetta, was involved at the time the information was extracted) said McCain was wrong, and that the water boarding made the difference in getting the code name for Bin Laden's go-between. Google it and see. McCain's "moral" point might still be valid, but they shouldn't have to censor the facts to prove it. This is the problem with Huffingtonpost. The news is too often one sided.

[dasMetzger]

01:18 PM on 05/23/2011

link?

[2crudedudes]

03:20 PM on 05/23/2011

This is the problem with a lot of news outlets

[elizabeth gerteiny]

11:55 AM on 05/21/2011

On May 12, 2011, Sen. John McCain, well-known survivor of wartime enemy torture, stated that torture not only didn't lead to Osama bin Laden's downfall, but that it's immoral, illegal and ineffectual in collecting reliable intelligence.

He was criticized by former senator and current presidential hopeful Rick Santorum, who countered that McCain "doesn't understand how enhanced interrogation works."

Mr. Santorum, unlike his former colleague and fellow Republican, has likely himself never undergone waterboarding or any other form of torture.

What'll he be remembered for?
Not some legislative bill
Sagely sired on The Hill,
Nor for having matchless skill

With simile and metaphor
Debating on the Senate floor,
But his stance Vietnam vet
John McCain, who in that war,

Was a torture victim, yet
On that point the man's all wet!
He's never going to live it down,
Even in this shameless town.

Elizabeth Gerteiny
Author of The President of War
www.bushandcompany.org

[starchildjg24]

11:48 PM on 05/20/2011

Hey, he got what he wanted! He made the national news. I guess he figured he needed to say something outrageous to get attention. It is hard to run for office if you don't get publicity, good or bad.

[Tokie]

07:58 PM on 05/20/2011

I am not a fan of John McCain but in this situation, I think that Rick Santorum owes John McCain an apology. Rick Santorum has never served in the armed forces, even experienced torture and yet Santorum feels that he is an expert on the subject. This goes to show us what he will stoop to in order to garner some form of attention. I realize that that Santorum is at the bottom of the food chain when it comes to presidential contenders and his own state didn't re elect him to the senate but he should learn to engage his thought process before he opens his mouth...

[1laingirl]

07:17 PM on 05/20/2011

Santorum is not known to be the sharpest knife in the drawer. A couple of days ago on MSNBC several commentators were quoting a number of people who had made remarks about how lacking in intelligence he was. He doesn't appear to engage a brain before speaking..

[dustyoh]

06:05 PM on 05/20/2011

Let' throw Santorum in solitary confinement and torture him for 5 years and then see if he still holds that opinion. I have the utmost respect for what McCain went through, I only wish that his fellow republicans did.

[Viking47]

06:04 AM on 06/22/2011

Point of clarification, he's not a "fellow Republican."

[Seven Teenatheart]

03:14 PM on 05/20/2011

I was not a fan of the McCain Presidential campaign.
But I respect what he went through, and the dignity with which he came back and resumed his life. And, I am grateful to him for his service (as I am grateful to all the members of our military, even when I don't agree with the decisions that caused them to be deployed).

How dare Mr. Ryan insult a war hero who has endured so many years of torture that he does not understand it?
Just like Mr. Ryan's budget proposal, his claims in this article are ridiculous.

[sheflys3]

02:06 PM on 05/22/2011

I think you missed the main point of the article--that this was Rick Santorum making the comments, not Ryan. He must just be on your mind.

[Paul Hoogeveen]

03:01 PM on 05/20/2011

Yes, Rick, McCain DOES have better information that you, both personal and official.

[Paul Hoogeveen]

03:21 PM on 05/20/2011

*than*

[Ramon Moreno]

01:20 PM on 05/20/2011

Now he's done it.

[fineartgalaxy]

12:18 PM on 05/20/2011

The audacity of this "gentleman" to tell a war hero this. And please, I am not even a Republican. This "gentleman" has been in the news lately more often than I can stomach it.