Did Torture Slow Hunt For Osama bin Laden?

[lakhota]

Torture May Have Slowed Hunt For Bin Laden, Not Hastened It

Torture apologists are reaching precisely the wrong conclusion from the back-story of the hunt for Osama bin Laden, say experienced interrogators and intelligence professionals.

Defenders of the Bush administration’s interrogation policies have claimed vindication from reports that bin Laden was tracked down in small part due to information received from brutalized detainees some six to eight years ago.

But that sequence of events -- even if true -- doesn’t demonstrate the effectiveness of torture, these experts say. Rather, it indicates bin Laden could have been caught much earlier had those detainees been interrogated properly.

"I think that without a doubt, torture and enhanced interrogation techniques slowed down the hunt for bin Laden," said an Air Force interrogator who goes by the pseudonym Matthew Alexander and located Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, in 2006.

It now appears likely that several detainees had information about a key al Qaeda courier -- information that might have led authorities directly to bin Laden years ago. But subjected to physical and psychological brutality, "they gave us the bare minimum amount of information they could get away with to get the pain to stop, or to mislead us," Alexander told The Huffington Post.

"We know that they didn’t give us everything, because they didn’t provide the real name, or the location, or somebody else who would know that information," he said.

In a 2006 study by the National Defense Intelligence College, trained interrogators found that traditional, rapport-based interviewing approaches are extremely effective with even the most hardened detainees, whereas coercion consistently builds resistance and resentment.

Much More: www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/06/torture-may-have-slowed-h_n_858642.html

[lakhota]

At a hearing in Guantanamo, several years after being waterboarded, KSM described how he would lie -- specifically about bin Laden’s whereabouts -- just to make the torture stop. "I make up stories," Mohammed said. "Where is he? I don't know. Then, he torture me," KSM said of an interrogator. "Then I said, 'Yes, he is in this area.'"

www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/06/torture-may-have-slowed-h_n_858642.html?page=3

[Deleted]

According to wikileaks documents we have known where he was for 6 years. And, yes, the reconditioning caused by torture led to snitching that led to Bin Laden. Years ago.
I can only hope they tortured him before he died.

[ugonow]

This message has been deleted. oops...my bad.

[lakhota]

According to wikileaks documents we have known where he was for 6 years. And, yes, the reconditioning caused by torture led to snitching that led to Bin Laden. Years ago.

Do you have any credible links to support your claims?

[hello fromWarsaw]

Actually, I believe we had the courier's nickname is all...

[formerexpat]

Yeah, they would have found Bin Laden much quicker if they sat down the terrorist and gave them tea and biscuits.

[Deleted]

The links have been on the boards for days, if you would ever venture off your own threads, Lak.