Re: Do you think water boarding is torture?
CIA Director Leon Panetta confirms that waterboarding led to Osama Bin Laden
Former head of CIA National Clandestine Service: Waterboarding Worked to Stop Attacks Before They Happened
etc. so on and so forth. Torture can absolutely be effective. I have
watched it be effective. Information derived from torture probably saved my life. Waterboarding, too, is also incredibly effective, as has been attested to by CIA directors from both sides of the aisle.
You know I can provide links disputing that.
John McCain: Waterboarding, Torture Did Not Help Hunt for Osama Bin Laden
John McCain: Waterboarding, Torture Did Not Help Hunt for Osama Bin Laden - ABC News
Asked if harsh interrogation techniques at Guantanamo Bay played a role in obtaining intelligence on bin Laden’s whereabouts, Rumsfeld declares: “First of all, no one was waterboarded at Guantanamo Bay. That’s a myth that’s been perpetrated around the country by critics.
“The United States Department of Defense did not do waterboarding for interrogation purposes to anyone. It is true that some information that came from normal interrogation approaches at Guantanamo did lead to information that was beneficial in this instance. But it was not harsh treatment and it was not waterboarding.”
Donald Rumsfeld: Information That Led To Bin Laden Was Not Obtained Via Waterboarding
A group of former US military interrogators are pushing back against the notion that Bush administration “enhanced interrogation techniques” – which many consider to be torture – led to the intelligence that helped US officials locate Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
(snip)
It is a misconception that ideologues don’t talk, he says. “The opinion that, ‘Oh, he’s such a fanatic, he won’t tell us anything' – that’s uninformed blathering by people who don’t understand the business,” Herrington adds. “The experience with those who worked with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and some of the other most senior terrorists is that they are narcissists and that they do want to talk – and talk and talk.”
The key, Herrington says, is to “channel those long talking sessions where they begin to – inadvertently at first – reveal things that are useful. All the while he’s talking, he’s telling us things that he doesn’t think are important, but they are.”
That requires building relationships – a process that is hampered, not helped, by practices such as “slapping someone in the face and stripping them naked,” he adds.
Military interrogators: Waterboarding didn't yield tips that led to bin Laden - CSMonitor.com
As for claims by tose who want you to believe, who provide no actual evidence, well, that speaks to your willingness and not actual effectiveness.