and the moles in the CIA get to work: Banned Techniques Yielded ‘High Value Information,’ Memo Says

[Uzybone]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/22/us/politics/22blair.html?hp


WASHINGTON – President Obama’s national intelligence director told colleagues in a private memo last week that the harsh interrogation techniques banned by the White House did produce significant information that helped the nation in its struggle with terrorists.

“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.


Admiral Blair’s private memo was provided by a critic of Mr. Obama’s policy. His assessment could bolster Bush administration veterans who argue that the interrogations were an important tool in the battle against al Qaeda.



ETA another paragraph by Blair.

""The information gained from these techniques was valuable in some instances, but there is no way of knowing whether the same information could have been obtained through other means,” Admiral Blair said in a written statement issued last night. “The bottom line is these techniques have hurt our image around the world, the damage they have done to our interests far outweighed whatever benefit they gave us and they are not essential to our national security."

[annabanana]

1. Even if true cannot outweigh damage done.

(doubt veracity)

[EFerrari]

2. Blair. What a surprise from the guy that enabled a massacre

in East Timor.

He's lying his ass off. The prisoners SHUT UP when they started being tortured.

Can I say "I told you so" yet?

Maybe this whole deal will help Obama weed out the burrowers.

[WinkyDink]

3. It's STILL TORTURE. "The ends justify the means" has been ACCEPTED as UNETHICAL.

GMA^%^%%B.

[babylonsister]

4. Hmm. I see Blair's name popping up fairly often. Maybe

he has something to hide, too. I wonder if he can explain the torture of one man over 183 times.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_04/017812.php

[aceofspades]

5. Does he mean other nations can torture Americans because it works?

It sounds like Blair suggest that scenario by this logic.

[dalaigh lllama]

6. So he wrote this in a memo last week. Um... and?

That's what Bushco has been saying all along. So I say, give us an example of some of this info, because I'm not buying it. Says here they got a "deeper understanding" of Al Queda. They couldn't get a deeper understanding some other way? No examples of "OMG we've got ten minutes to find out where the bomb is" torture sucess stories?

What utter BS.

[ThirdWorldJohn]

7. Did Obama Aide Admiral Dennis Blair Lie to Congress?

Did Obama Aide Admiral Dennis Blair Lie to Congress?

President-elect Obama is expected to name his intelligence team today: Leon Panetta for the CIA, John Brennan as a key White House adviser, and Admiral Dennis Blair as Director of National Intelligence. Blair, as Allan Nairn reported on Democracy Now!, was implicated in backing the perpetrators of church massacres in East Timor in 1999. Award-winning investigative reporter Allan Nairn reveals new information that indicates he may have lied to Congress.

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/1/9/did_obama_aide_admiral_dennis_blair

[jenmito]

8. Where are the examples? Are they afraid to name them because the claims are

ridiculous? Like KSM "confessed" to planning to have planes fly over the U.S. and blowing them up? Or to planning an attack on the Library Tower? Things that have been proven to be nothing more than unrealistic ideas?

[babylonsister]

9. on cnn, Blair is dialing back. I'll post it when I see it. nt

[jenmito]

10. He said although it DID "yield results," the damage to our reputation outweighed

it. :eyes: Why no examples of WHAT results it yielded? Cheney said there were reports that showed SPECIFICALLY what they gained from it.

[jenmito]

11. Cnn: "BREAKING NEWS-Memo-Interrogations Yielded Results...

Techiques now banned by Pres. Obama." :eyes: