Progressive Minds

During a radio interview yesterday with conservative commentator Scott Hennen, Dick Cheney admitted the United States has engaged in waterboarding, an "interrogation" (read: torture) technique in which the person being subjected to it, is made to feel as though they are drowing.

And Hennen seemed all too happy to do BushCo's bidding.  WE LOVE TORTURE!  WE LOVE TORTURE! He told Cheney that his listeners requested that he let Cheney know "If it takes dunking a terrorist in water, we're all for it, if it saves American lives."  And Hennen went on to tell Cheney he thought the debate over waterboarding was silly "given the threat we face."

Cheney concurred, saying "And I think the terrorist threat, for example, with respect to our ability to interrogate high-value detainees like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, that's been a very important tool that we've had to be able to secure the nation."

In other words, Hennen and Cheney are both suggesting that being subjected to waterboarding makes the terrorists like Mohammed start talking, and thus the United States is able to gain valuable intelligence information (i.e. about the next attack).  What they won't tell you, is that torture is ineffective as an intelligence tool, because many times the person being subjected to it, is just going to say what they think the tormentor wants to hear.

It's interesting that Cheney mentioned Mohammed, the man credited with being the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks.  As I've mentioned here on the blog before, Mohammed was waterboarded after being taken into custody.  And he began to talk and provide information, "though not all of it reliable," a former senior intelligence official said. In other words, Mohammed lied.  Just kind of throws the whole 'waterboarding saves American lives' schtick right out the window, doesn't it?

What good does it do to get "intelligence" information, if the information is not reliable?

Cheney confirms that detainees were subjected to water-boarding