John McCain : Torture did not lead to Osama Bin Laden

wow McCain may be getting back to himself after he sold out in 2008.

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.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/12/john-mccain-torture-_n_861089.html?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl3%7Csec3_lnk3%7C62644

but they did torture...i thought that was the whole point.

CIA and McCain seem to be saying their is no connection to waterboarding someone 187 times and a dead Binny

yes bird, i clearly understand what THEY are saying...but are we saying the CIA(and the Obama administration since they are getting so much credit) needlessly tortured somebody for results of no use? Why arent we calling Obama the devil?

Kalid S. Muhommad (mastermind of 9-11) is the guy that got waterboarded (1 of 3 to be) we also got ol Khalid from the Pakistani military that caught him. The waterboarding on Kalid took place years ago under Bush

March 2003 waterboarded 183 times
August 2002 waterboarded 83 times

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/04/18/khalid-sheikh-mohammed-was-waterboarded-183-times-in-one-month/

speaks more to the incompetence of the Bush administration if they got all this supposedly great info from torture nearly 9 years ago and did nothing with it.

well, maybe the same interrogation methods being used leading up to bin laden's capture is excused...or maybe for another thread.

anyway, bird...how about you give your rampant partisanship a rest on these forums? or tone it down, you don't need to post your "liberals are always right" stuff everyday...you're becoming a less hilarious version of oggy...and no, i'm not a conservative before you snap...but hardcore bias annoys me.

sorry man, not trying to be annoying, i dont even vote, just find hardcore conservatives alot more hilarious than hardcore liberals

You really cannot trust McCain at all when he speaks. He is one of the most twisted and corrupt people to ever represent this country. I pisses me off he is not in jail.

atleast he knows first hand what torture accomplishes

Who cares if we torture someone who is a known terrorist? People that complain about shit like this are gonna be the downfall of our country. I hope they did torture the SOB!

bigbeastcardinal12 wrote:

Who cares if we torture someone who is a known terrorist? People that complain about shit like this are gonna be the downfall of our country. I hope they did torture the SOB!

ya and at the same time people that break our own laws and the geneva convention could be the downfall of us as well. Ruins our credibility being the world police and all