McCain to GOP: Stop lying about Bin laden

Bin Laden’s death and the debate over torture
By John McCain,
Published: May 11, 2011
Washington Post

Osama bin Laden’s welcome death has ignited debate over
whether the so-called enhanced interrogation techniques
used on enemy prisoners were instrumental in locating
bin Laden, and whether they are a justifiable means for
gathering intelligence.

Much of this debate is a definitional one: whether any
or all of these methods constitute torture. I believe
some of them do, especially waterboarding, which is a
mock execution and thus an exquisite form of torture. As
such, they are prohibited by American laws and values,
and I oppose them.

I know those who approved and employed these practices
were dedicated to protecting Americans. I know they were
determined to keep faith with the victims of terrorism
and to prove to our enemies that the United States would
pursue justice relentlessly no matter how long it took.

I don’t believe anyone should be prosecuted for having
used these techniques, and I agree that the
administration should state definitively that they won’t
be. I am one of the authors of the Military Commissions
Act, and we wrote into the legislation that no one who
used or approved the use of these interrogation
techniques before its enactment should be prosecuted. I
don’t think it is helpful or wise to revisit that
policy.

But this must be an informed debate. Former attorney
general Michael Mukasey recently claimed that “the
intelligence that led to bin Laden . . . began with a
disclosure from Khalid Sheik Mohammed, who broke like a
dam under the pressure of harsh interrogation techniques
that included waterboarding. He loosed a torrent of
information — including eventually the nickname of a
trusted courier of bin Laden.”

That is false.

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.

washingtonpost.com/opinions/bin-ladens-death
-and-the-debate-over-
torture/2011/05/11/AFd1mdsG_story.html?hpid=z2

youtube.com/watch?v=3I94Yb4KUic

washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/john
-mccain-to-bush-apologists-stop-lying-about-bin-laden-
and-torture/2011/03/03/AF10AnzG_blog.html