So the Democrats are pissed that they couldn’t get their pound of flesh at the show hearing, today:
Fox is running a report on it [1], which contains much more, but I’ll cull these four paras for discussion:
According to the former agent, waterboarding of terror suspect Abu Zubaydah got him to talk in less than 35 seconds. The technique, which critics say is torture, probably disrupted “dozens” of planned al-Qaida attacks, said John Kiriakou, a leader of the team that captured Abu Zubaydah, a major al-Qaida figure.
Kiriakou did not explain how he knew who approved the interrogation technique but said such approval comes from top officials. He did not witness or participate in the waterboarding, he said.
“This isn’t something done willy nilly. This isn’t something where an agency officer just wakes up in the morning and decides he’s going to carry out an enhanced technique on a prisoner,” he said Tuesday in a round of television news show appearances. “This was a policy made at the White House, with concurrence from the National Security Council and Justice Department.”
At the White House, press secretary Dana Perino said the CIA interrogation program approved by the president is safe, tough, effective and legal.
And so it is. As I’ve said elsewhere… what we’re talking about is a choice between a terrorists short term comfort, vs thousands of American lives. Interesting, that so many should have such a problem with the choice of the latter. Also interesting that the Democrats in particular should be so interested in the tapes… which you know as well as I would be You-tube fodder before the echo died.