Waterboarding saved LA from 9/11 two

Ironically, just as Obama is talking of prosecuting those respeonsible for "torture" of terrorists, it's been revealed that such "enhanced interegation" techniques were responsible for preventing a terror attack on LA.

And, rather than some kind of crazed system of sadists torturing people left and right, only three people were ever waterboarded by the CIA:

http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=46949
I've got to say, that sounds perfectly reasonable and logical. They're pretty much saying waterboarding is allowed only in the "ticking time bomb" scenario that the left said never happens.

 

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mad are you thick?

people are about to be procuted from the CIA and suddenly they say it worked and you belive them?

are really that one eyed?

 

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mad is a republican, gotta save his fellowmen from sinking you know.

And CIA just waterboarded 3 guys...lol...get real

 

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lol

 

Of course it works, that's why torture is so tempting. Did you think Stalin and Hitler did it for fun?

 

yeah. They were both twisted sick fucks.

 

of course it works if what you want is for them to confess

 

Yeah, and in other waterboarding sessions Khalid Sheik Mohammad confirmed Saddam had built a Doomsday Atomic Device for Al Qaeda.:crazy:

 

dude before they even use their "techniques" they kick and deprive them of food...so ask this, what will you say when asked to say what they want to hear? You will say what they want to hear.

 

And if what they want to hear is confirmable truth, you will give it. That doesn't justify torturing people. It's against our laws.

 

More of the same

The thing is that the CIA is reiterating itself over old allegations, and apparently not offering anything new that would change the fact that the LA story has already been debunked. And yet it still gets waved around like flag as if the story still has credibility.

Dan Froomkin, March, 2008:

The relevant question, however, is why? Was it something Bush did? And if so, what? Should Bush's most controversial policies -- including the harsh interrogation of terrorist suspects, the warrantless spying on domestic communication, and the decision to merge 22 different government agencies into an often dysfunctional behemoth -- get any credit?

Yesterday, encouraging homeland security employees to "take enormous pride in the accomplishments of this department," Bush declared that the government has prevented "numerous" attacks. But he only cited two -- neither of which support his argument one bit.

"We've disrupted numerous planned attacks -- including a plot to fly an airplane into the tallest building on the West Coast, and another to blow up passenger jets headed for America across the Atlantic Ocean," he said.

The first of those, generally referred to as the Library Tower plot, should sound familiar. Bush has cited it in defense of his warantless surveillance program (see, for instance, this Feb, 9, 2006 speech) and the CIA's use of interrogation techniques most would consider torture (see, for instance, this Oct. 23, 2007 speech.)

But after the 2006 speech, it quickly became clear that he had overstated the gravity of that alleged plot. As Peter Baker and Dan Eggen of The Washington Post wrote, "several U.S. intelligence officials played down the relative importance of the alleged plot and attributed the timing of Bush's speech to politics. The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they did not want to publicly criticize the White House, said there is deep disagreement within the intelligence community over the seriousness of the Library Tower scheme and whether it was ever much more than talk.

"One intelligence official . . . attributed the move to the administration's desire to justify its efforts in the face of criticism of the domestic surveillance program, which has no connection to the incident."​

Or reiterating himself in September of last year:

As I wrote in my March 7 column, Bush has often said that the government had prevented "numerous" attacks. In the past, he most often cited what are known as the Library Tower plot and the trans-Atlantic airplane plot.

But it's not clear that the alleged plot to fly an airplane into the tallest building on the West Coast -- broken up by Asian authorities -- was ever more than just talk. And the British investigators responsible for discovering the alleged plot to blow up as many as 10 U.S.-bound passenger jets with liquid explosives were unable this week to persuade a jury that the suspects actually intended to target airplanes at all ....​

And again, in December:

In his speech and an accompanying "fact sheet," Bush claimed credit for foiling four plots in particular: "Here at home we prevented numerous terrorist attacks -- including an attempt to bomb fuel tanks at JFK Airport, a plot to blow up airliners bound for the East Coast, a scheme to attack a shopping mall in the Chicago area, and a plan to destroy the tallest skyscraper in Los Angeles. We'll never know how many lives have been saved. But this is for certain: Since 9/11, there's not been another terrorist attack on American soil."

Let's take these alleged plots one at a time ....

* The skyscraper plot allegedly targeted Los Angeles's Library Tower (now US Bank Tower). After Bush mentioned it in a Feb. 9, 2006, speech, Peter Baker and Dan Eggen wrote in The Washington Post that "several U.S. intelligence officials played down the relative importance of the alleged plot and attributed the timing of Bush's speech to politics. James Gordon Meek and Kenneth Bazinet wrote in the New York Daily News: "'There was no definitive plot. It never materialized or got past the thought stage,' said a senior counterterrorism official, who has worked at the CIA and the FBI."​

That last one I've provided at least a couple of times recently, once for Radicand in January, and again in February ... responding directly to Madanthonywayne.

Froomkin found himself repeating the point last year because the Bush administration and its supporters kept raising the issue without giving any new information that would make the case compelling. Indeed, in much the same fashion, we revisit the point here with the rhetoric of CNS (Cybercast News Service, neé Conservative News Service), a well-recognized conservative propaganda house that exists as a response to that spectral liberal media bias conspiracy.

If we had something new and substantial that would reanimate these allegations of a terror plot, then yes, we should revisit that. But there's nothing in what we've seen so far that would breathe new life into this particular scary tale.

Thus, using this story to make a point like—

—while it might seem particularly dishonest and sleazy, is about par for the course for conservative sadists begging for justification.
____________________

Notes:

Froomkin, Dan. "Why Haven't We Been Attacked?" White House Watch. March 7, 2008. WashingtonPost.com. Accessed April 22, 2009. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/03/07/BL2008030701908.html

—————. "Bush the Great Protector". White House Watch. September 11, 2008. WashingtonPost.com. Accessed April 22, 2009. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/09/11/BL2008091101630.html

—————. "Bush's Counterterrorism Record: 0 for 1". White House Watch. December 18, 2008. WashingtonPost.com. Accessed April 22, 2009. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/12/18/BL2008121802193.html

See Also:

"Cybercast News Service". SourceWatch.com. Accessed April 22, 2009. http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Cybercast_News_Service

 

The CIA, and this is the CIA under the Obama adminsitration, does not agree with your debunking. To quote the article linked to in the OP:

The Central Intelligence Agency told CNSNews.com today that it stands by the assertion made in a May 30, 2005 Justice Department memo that the use of “enhanced techniques” of interrogation on al Qaeda leader Khalid Sheik Mohammed (KSM) -- including the use of waterboarding -- caused KSM to reveal information that allowed the U.S. government to thwart a planned attack on Los Angeles.

​

To quote the Obama administration's memo directly:

"High value information came from interrogations in which those methods were used and provided a deeper understanding of the al Qa'ida organization that was attacking this country," Adm. Dennis C. Blair, the intelligence director, wrote in a memo to his staff last Thursday.​

Now maybe you think you know more about the situation than the director of the CIA. But personally, I'll defer to him in such assessments.

 

Yes. The Spanish Inquisition worked wonders. Confessions of witchcraft were a dime a dozen. Of course we ALL KNOW that witchcraft is REAL.

It seems US civilization has stood still since then.

 

The problem is, the LA attack was thwarted in 2002. Khalid Sheik Mohammed wasn't taken into custody until March of 2003. The statement is at the very least, disingenuous.

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/04/thiessens-la-tower-canard.html

 

So was that the only plot? there have been more than one or don't you know that.

 

http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=46949

The quotations in this part of the Justice memo were taken from an Aug. 2, 2004 letter that CIA Acting General Counsel John A. Rizzo sent to the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel.

Before they were subjected to “enhanced techniques” of interrogation that included waterboarding, KSM and Zubaydah were not only uncooperative but also appeared contemptuous of the will of the American people to defend themselves.

“In particular, the CIA believes that it would have been unable to obtain critical information from numerous detainees, including KSM and Abu Zubaydah, without these enhanced techniques,” says the Justice Department memo. “Both KSM and Zubaydah had ‘expressed their belief that the general US population was ‘weak,’ lacked resilience, and would be unable to ‘do what was necessary’ to prevent the terrorists from succeeding in their goals.’ Indeed, before the CIA used enhanced techniques in its interrogation of KSM, KSM resisted giving any answers to questions about future attacks, simply noting, ‘Soon you will know.’'

After he was subjected to the “waterboard” technique, KSM became cooperative, providing intelligence that led to the capture of key al Qaeda allies and, eventually, the closing down of an East Asian terrorist cell that had been tasked with carrying out the 9/11-style attack on Los Angeles.

 

hey buffalo, i have a bridge i want to sell you

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what kind?

 

That is too funny friend.

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Can you throw in the rose colored view as well?