WASHINGTON—The assertion by a former CIA interrogator that the tactic known as waterboarding was effective in shaking potentially life-saving information from a leading terrorist has infused new passion into the debate over torture, both in the presidential campaign and in government.
By tactic they mean "torture technique".
Retired CIA agent John Kiriakou made the rounds of network and cable news programs Monday and Tuesday describing how waterboarding, an interrogation technique that makes a prisoner believe he is in imminent danger of drowning, had prompted Al Qaeda leader Abu Zubaydah to provide critical information after he had held out for weeks.
The retired agent's comments have revived one of the toughest questions in the torture debate: What if using distasteful, even repugnant, tactics is the most effective way to get hardened terrorists to reveal information that could save American lives?
Okay, here we go again. Look this guy is completely talking out of his ass. Since Kiriakou wasn't involved in the torture/debriefing of this nutjob Zubaydah then he would have no knowledge of what happened with the insane ramblings they recorded, he wasn't even there. In the unlikely event that Zubaydah actually blurted out some useful information this Trojan Horse supposed Ex-CIA agent Kiriakou would have no idea of its use in the field. Its called compartmentalization He would have no idea if field agents already had this "valuable" information. If he was one of the field agents he wouldn't know where the intell came from.
This guy is completely full of shit and it's 6 to 5 he still draws a paycheck from Langley.
UPDATE: I meant to post the link to the article "Agent's assertions revive torture debate". Which is complete bullshit and the Chicago Tribute should be ashamed at what a piece of crap it is. There is no debate. Torture doesn't work. period. end of statement.
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