Obama's Intel Director: Bush admin's interrogations yielded "high value" Info

[OnePimpTiger]

Memo: Obama's Intel Director said interrogations yielded "high value" Info

In a previously undisclosed private memo, President Obama's intelligence director told colleagues that enhanced interrogation techniques used by the Bush administration yielded important information that helped America deal with the threat of terrorism.

"High value information came from interrogations in which those methods were used and provided a deeper understanding of the al Qa'ida organization that was attacking this country," the Director of National Intelligence, retired Admiral Dennis Blair, told colleagues in the two-page memo April 16.

That sentence was not included in a shorter one-page statement Blair's office gave to the media last Thursday, the same day Obama released previously top secret Bush administration memos laying out Republican lawyers' rationale for why they believed the interrogations were legal. Obama officially banned the techniques during his first week in office, with his aides charging it amounted to illegal torture.

Interesting...any opinions changed or influenced by this? And I wonder why that sentence was initially left out of the media release....

[shortking98]

No surprise they edited that one out. It makes people question them banning the techniques that they have apparently said were somewhat effective. It hasn't changed my opinion on the issue but you can tell there was an agenda when they left that bit out

[RedGoneWILD]

What's the high value information? That there were WMD's in Iraq? That there was a Bin Laden confession video in an abandoned shack in Jalalabad? that there would be train and bus bombings in Spain and London? what exactly did they yield through these torture sessions?

[jaybird_1981]

What's the high value information? That there were WMD's in Iraq? That there was a Bin Laden confession video in an abandoned shack in Jalalabad? that there would be train and bus bombings in Spain and London? what exactly did they yield through these torture sessions?

It could have been any number of things which would all be classified and wouldn't be included in the press release.

[chljoe]

Surprised that the statement was left out. No. Opinion shifted because of it. No. Their definition of "high value" of information could cover a rather broad spectrum. Since we are talking gov't, I'm sure it does.

[OnePimpTiger]

True, and we'll probably never know exactly how "important" this info was. But, a lot of people have been saying the techniques the Bush admin was using wouldn't work and wasn't useful and it turns out that might not necessarily have been correct.

[chljoe]

It also could validate their stance on the issue since we don't know what information was presented, how "valuable" it was, or if it was of any significance at all.

[RedGoneWILD]

Abu Ghraib head finds vindication in newly released memos

this lady feels vindicated now because the memos prove the "agressive interrogation" (nice choice of words) at Abu Ghraib was authorized by the Bush White House (Rummy) and wasn't the work of just a couple of "bad apples" as they claimed. Didn't Bush declare a new legal status of unlawful combatants, therefore making them not subject to being treated with humanity? Why would we want to do this, and more importantly, what crucial intel was obtained through this method? To try and get around the rules this much, we better have got something important.

Just curious for those of you in favor of torture...Can anybody cite any cases where torture actually worked?

And doesn't anybody think respect is much more important than power? Everybody's always quick to say that our enemies will torture us as justification, but never look at anything else from their perspective. America has become the big bad bully that is feared but not respected. It's like what Smokey says in Friday about Deebo.

I got mind control over Deebo. He be like "shut the f**k up." I be quiet. But when he leave, I be talking again.

[OnePimpTiger]

Just curious for those of you in favor of torture...Can anybody cite any cases where torture actually worked?

Red, c'mon. If torture didn't work, people wouldn't have been doing it for hundreds of years. I don't have the time or energy right now to find specific cases, but with the rules and regulations in place and as many people as there are against torture, don't you think the government would have put an end to it if they weren't getting results? If they weren't getting information, shouldn't Obama be outlawing all torture instead of just the extreme stuff?

And doesn't anybody think respect is much more important than power? Everybody's always quick to say that our enemies will torture us as justification, but never look at anything else from their perspective. America has become the big bad bully that is feared but not respected. It's like what Smokey says in Friday about Deebo.

The level of importance of respect depends on who it's coming from. Does it bother me that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Kim Jong-il, Hugo Chavez, etc, etc, etc don't respect us? No, not really. The majority of people who have no respect for the US are leaders that we shouldn't be looking for the respect of or the general masses, which are clueless for the most part anyway.

[angel0430]

People are making a big deal out of this. If they get one of us military, they will make sure we suffer and we died. We are only making them suffer. I have no problem for them to be torturing bad guys. Some of them might be innocent, some of them don't. That is the only thing that I am against. If you know they are guilty, do it.