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Justice Dept Report Seems to Refute Cheney's Torture Claims

by Karen Hatter | February 22, 2010 at 03:16 pm

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Former Vice President Richard 'Dick' Cheney has long maintained and voiced his belief that the use of what has been termed 'enhanced interrogation techniques' during the Bush administration, also referred to as torture, provided actionable intelligence from alleged terror suspects.

It has been offered, as proof of the former Vice President's claim, in the case of Abu Zubaydah, that the waterboarding of this man provided information on two operatives, Jose Padilla and Binyam Mohammed.

Binyam Mohammed subsequently was released, having an appeals court in the United Kingdom render a verdict that the formerly held U.S. prisoner had suffered " .... cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment by the United States authorities."

In the case of Jose Padilla, the timing of the acquisition of the alleged intelliegence didn't match up with the facts.

But as Michael Isikoff reported over the weekend, the recently-released report from the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility contains disclosures that "could prove awkward for Cheney and his supporters."

The report provides new information about the contents of one of the never released agency memos, concluding that it significantly misstated the timing of the capture of one Al Qaeda suspect in order to make a claim that seems to have been patently false.

In essence, the CIA insisted that the waterboarding of Abu Zubaydah "provided significant information on two operatives, Jose Padilla and Binyam Mohammed, who planned to build and detonate a 'dirty bomb' in the Washington DC area." As anyone who's followed the case knows, charges against Mohamed were dropped, he was released from detention and returned to the United Kingdom, where the Court of Appeal found that he had been treated to "cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment by the United States authorities."

As for Padilla, the problem for Cheney and supporters is one of timing:

But as the Justice report points out, this was wrong. "In fact, Padilla was arrested in May 2002, not 2003 ... The information '[leading] to the arrest of Padilla' could not have been obtained through the authorized use of EITs."

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Sputnic

at 15:56 on February 22nd, 2010

The Bush administration undoubtably have blood on their hands, perhaps the question now is, how much ?

Mary Richard

at 16:40 on February 22nd, 2010

I'm a little off topic here, but Cheney's just been hospitalized for chest pains.

Karen Hatter

at 16:57 on February 22nd, 2010

Not off topic at all, Mary, since the article is about the beliefs of Dick Cheney.

Thanks for the information.

Apparently, he is resting comfortably at George Washington University Hospital.

According to this article:

A family member told NBC News he was resting comfortably while doctors evaluated his condition.

Two doctors at George Washington University Hospital said Cheney was stable but may have additional treatment Tuesday. "We don't know what the plan is," one physician told NBC News.

Caoimhin1

at 21:29 on February 22nd, 2010

Good story Karen.

J2B (not verified)

at 02:01 on February 23rd, 2010

a ghost from the far distant past? How r u?

stejeb

at 14:38 on February 23rd, 2010

This finding will come as no surprise to those in the free world who object strongly to the use of torture to obtain confessions/information, people just end up saying what their captors want to hear to get respite from their treatment, nothing productive is gained from it.

You would think that the "leaders of the free world" in America would have cottoned on to that by now.