THE DISCLOSURE PROJECT: Ex- #CIA Chief Defends Waterboarding Torture.

Friday, April 27, 2012

Ex- #CIA Chief Defends Waterboarding Torture.

The former head of the CIA's Clandestine Service has said he has no regrets about using controversial 'enhanced interrogation techniques' on al Qaeda detainees after the September 11 attacks.
While human rights campaigners have condemned them as tantamount to torture, Jose Rodriguez insisted methods such as waterboarding are 'legal and effective'.
He told 60 Minutes Sunday he was comfortable with the agency's treatment of top-tier terrorists such as 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed and suspected Bin Laden lieutenant Abu Zubaydah, saying: 'We made some al Qaeda terrorists with American blood on their hands uncomfortable for a few days.
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'Legal and effective': The former head of the CIA's Clandestine Service, Jose Rodriguez, defended its controversial interrogation tactics in an interview for 60 Minutes

'I am very secure in what we did and am very confident that what we did saved American lives.'
Mr Rodriguez, who has written a book called 'Hard Measures' about the CIA's interrogations, compared waterboarding to the Obama-era practice of targeting terrorists through drone strikes, insisting his methods were less harsh than those in force now.
'We don't capture anyone anymore ... the default option of this administration has been to kill all prisoners. Take no prisoners,' he told interviewer Lesley Stahl.
'How could it be more ethical to kill people rather than capture them?'

The former spy hotly denied that Abu Zubaydah gave the CIA false information after being waterboarded and sleep deprived, saying, 'Bull****! He gave us a road-map that allowed us to capture a bunch of al Qaeda senior leaders.'

Explaining the rationale behind the CIA's interrogation programme, which includes stress positions, forced nudity and 'insult slaps,' Mr Rodriguez said it was 'about instilling a sense of hopelessness...despair...so that he [the detainee] would conclude on his own that he was better off cooperating with us.'
He cited Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the architect of 9/11, as a prime example of this.

An offer they can't refuse: The former spy chief said methods such as waterboarding and sleep deprivation generally persuaded terror suspects it was better to co-operate

Calling him 'the toughest detainee we had,' the ex spy chief said Mohammed initially refused to co-operate, but after being subjected to waterboarding and sleep deprivation, told the CIA, 'I will talk once I get to New York and I get my lawyer.'
Mr Rodriguez believes the cumulative effect of the enhanced techniques was instrumental in ensuring the terrorist gave up information.
Further, he told Ms Stahl the intelligence gained from this and other high-level interrogations had helped to thwart at least 10 other planned terrorist attacks.

'The toughest detainee we had': Suspected Bin Laden lieutenant Abu Zubaydah gave up a vital map to the CIA after interrogation

Challenged by his interviewer, Mr Rodriguez admitted that it was sometimes difficult to quantify the gains made when a terrorist was captured.
'We don't know ... if, for example, al Qaeda would have been able to continue on with their anthrax program or nuclear program ... or sleeper agents ... working with Khalid Sheik Mohammed to take down the Brooklyn Bridge, for example,' he said.
The interview will air on 60 Minutes Sunday on April 29 at 7 p.m. ET/PT