Remember that lively discussion we had about waterboarding? Everyone was quick to point out the actionable intelligence we received from abu zubaydah.
Well…
As it turns out, retired CIA agent John Kiriakou has an active imagination, basically.
According to a piece by veteran intelligence reporter Jeff Stein, Kiriakou “basically made up” details about the waterboarding of al Qaeda agent Abu Zubaydah.
Arguing that waterboarding — or simulated drowning — is actually effective in forcing prisoners to share secret information, Kiriakou told ABC News’ Nightline in April, “The next day [after his first time being waterboarded], he told his interrogator that Allah had visited him in his cell during the night and told him to cooperate.”
“From that day on, he answered every question,” he said, according to ABC. “The threat information he provided disrupted a number of attacks, maybe dozens of attacks.”
“Now comes John Kiriakou, again, with a wholly different story,” Stein noted in Foreign Policy. “On the next-to-last page of a new memoir, The Reluctant Spy: My Secret Life in the CIA’s War on Terror (written with Michael Ruby), Kiriakou now rather off handedly admits that he basically made it all up.”
Story continues below…
“I wasn’t there when the interrogation took place; instead, I relied on what I’d heard and read inside the agency at the time,” Kiriakou reportedly said.
“But after his one-paragraph confession, Kiriakou adds that he didn’t have any first hand knowledge of anything relating to CIA torture routines, and still doesn’t,” Stein continued. "And he claims that the disinformation he helped spread was a CIA dirty trick: “In retrospect, it was a valuable lesson in how the CIA uses the fine arts of deception even among its own.”
Kiriakou had insisted repeatedly to ABC News that waterboarding, while “torture,” supposedly “saved lives,” even though he had no way of knowing that.
The CIA has since destroyed all videotapes of Abu Zubaydah’s interrogations. He was allegedly subjected to waterboarding at least 83 times.
I am not talking about reportage of a general topic. I am asking about the actual source of this cut-and-paste post. I am familiar with the basics of the story, and am not trying to suggest that you are making it up. See the difference…?
“We waterboarded and it worked but unfortunately we destroyed all evidence of it.”
Yeah…
Huge failure in reasoning there.
Still nothing compared to all the innocent people that have been grabbed up by “intelligence” agencies and sent to hell holes like Uzbekistan where they’re raped with broken bottles and boiled alive and forced to point out more random names so the torturing can continue.
Damn straight - we bought and paid for the Uzbek security organization and we want our money’s worth!
ETA - quit pretending you care what happens to some pederastic jihadi that would kill you and your entire family in a New York (remember the World Trade Center?) Second.
There are a lot of people in this country conditioned to believe that if we treat them with dignity and respect they’ll treat us the same. They don’t realize its just a bullshit smoke screen to keep from scaring the shit out of the sheep.
What a load of shit. I don’t care what this man said or didn’t say, water-boarding is effective and should continue. I have now seen at least a half dozen trained men quickly lose their cool when it is done to them voluntarily, a couple just recently.
But they didn’t die and they aren’t scarred for life.
Not enough was done IMO. They should include blow torches, electrocution/shock treatment and dismemberment. Video tape it, translate into Arabic, and posted on YouTube.
I hope no one feels that this news (or the previous story for that matter) is the truth. These are political animals regardless of whether they are still active in the game, and who knows who is or isn’t. They will say or be told to say what is needed as the political winds change.
Who cares? These so-called “innocents” aren’t good people. Don’t believe everything you hear, you’ll never know the truth even if you think you have the facts.
It’s statements like the above that make me wonder if you lack basic reading skills or that you engage in deliberate obfuscation. You’d do well to follow your own advice and read a bit closer.
Nothing in the article denies that intelligence was gathered through waterboarding only that the “claimant” was in no position one way or the other and that now he says he just “made it all up.”
This of course points to the obvious question: Either Kiriakou was lying then or is lying now to sell a book. Either way he is still a liar. When did liars become credible sources?
At best you can say he was misinformed but either way you have no basis for making the above claim.
In any event it doesn’t help your credibility when the VERY FIRST line of your quote says…
As it turns out, retired CIA agent John Kiriakou has an active imagination
How about you try and base your arguments on facts rather than shills with active imaginations… Oh wait…maybe the reason you referred to that source is that he reminds you of you. :eek:
Really why do you even come here? It’s obvious you have little interest in firearms so I must presume you like beating your head against the wall and keep expecting a different result than ridicule.
Amen to that. To hell with this pussy-footing around with these people. Do whatever it takes to get the info we need. Electric drills, chain saws, etc. They’re lower than animals and should be treated as such. This is war folks, not a game… If these morons could do it they’d utterly exterminate us, so quit feeling sorry for them.
There is a reason they call us the Great Satan - they want to destroy us. Showing any weakness or mercy is a foolish, and worse - dangerous - policy that will get us all killed.
