Did Brutal Questioning Pay Off? The Battle Heats Up

By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff

Posted Apr 23, 2009 8:31 AM CDT

(Newser) – President Obama says the harsh interrogation methods used by the CIA both compromised American values and provided unreliable information. “Those are a convenient pair of opinions,” notes Scott Shane of the New York Times. But it's not going to be that easy for the new administration to defend its ban, as the battle heats up over whether torturous techniques did indeed prevent attacks.

Even intelligence officials opposed to torture acknowledge that the CIA produced valuable information, but whether brutal methods were necessary is unclear. The Justice Department memos, for example, argue that harsh techniques drew valuable intel from Abu Zubaydah and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. But Abu Zubaydah gave his most valuable information before being tortured, according to multiple accounts. Mohammed, meanwhile, was waterboarded 183 times in the first month of his captivity, meaning traditional methods were likely never tried, Shane notes.

Then-CIA Director Michael Hayden gestures during a news conference at CIA headquarters in Langley, Va., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2009. (AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez)

Former Vice President Dick Cheney appears on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday, March 15, 2009, in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)

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Did Brutal Questioning Pay Off? The Battle Heats Up

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Former secretary of state says she never 'tearfully admitted' anything

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OTHER STORIES ON OUR RADAR

Bush administration • Barack Obama • Dick Cheney • CIA • torture • Khalid Sheikh Mohammed • Abu Zubaydah • harsh interrogation

MOST POPULAR STORIES

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More Newser Stories

CIA Kept Secret Prison in Bucharest Neighborhood

AP investigation uncovers details of black site in Romania

Condi Rice Disses Cheney 'Cheap Shots': I Never Cried

Former secretary of state says she never 'tearfully admitted' anything

I Guess Torture Is Legal Now

Dick Cheney makes a farce of our 'rule of law': Dahlia Lithwick

Powell Aide: Cheney Fears War Crime Trial

Col. Lawrence Wilkerson slams 'vindictive' memoir

CIA Heavily Edits FBI Agent's 9/11 Book

Cuts are due to criticism of CIA, author says

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