John McCain: Waterboarding, Torture Did Not Help Hunt for Osama Bin Laden
EmailABC News’ Devin Dwyer reports: Arizona Sen. John McCain, a former POW who was tortured for years at the hands of Vietnamese captors, delivered an impassioned argument today that so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques” did not produce intelligence leading to Osama bin Laden.
“It was not torture, or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of detainees that got us the major leads that ultimately enabled our intelligence community to find Osama bin Laden,” McCain said in a stirring 22-minute speech from the Senate floor.
McCain called the techniques – implemented by CIA interrogators during the George W. Bush administration and later barred by President Obama – “indisputably torture,” and said waterboarding amounted to a “mock execution.”
“I do not believe they are necessary to our success in our war against terrorists, as the advocates of these techniques claim they are,” he said.
McCain directly criticized former Attorney General Michael Mukasey for publicly suggesting recently that waterboarding of alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed led investigators to the courier who ferried information to and from bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan.
Mukasey has said Mohammed “broke like a dam” during the 183 waterboardings performed on him.
“That is false,” McCain said, citing a report from CIA director Leon Panetta who said the courier’s identity was obtained elsewhere.
Waterboarding KSM “actually produced false and misleading information,” McCain said, explaining that Mohammed’s information on the courier was ultimately proven incorrect.
“In my personal experience, the abuse of prisoners sometimes produces good intelligence, but often produces bad intelligence because under torture a person will say anything he thinks his captors want to hear –- whether it is true or false –- if he believes it will relieve his suffering,” he said.
McCain argued the harsh interrogation techniques more fundamentally degrade “our national character and historical reputation” and put American soldiers at greater risk of torture in the future.
“I know that Al-Qaeda and other terrorist organization do not share our scruples about the treatment of enemy combatants,” he said. “But we must bear in mind the likelihood that some day we will be involved in a more conventional war against a state and not a terrorist movement or insurgency and be careful that we do not set a standard that another country could use to justify their mistreatment of our prisoners.”
“Ultimately this debate is about far more than technical or practical issues,” said McCain. “It is about far more than whether torture works or does not work. It is about far more than utilitarian matters. Ultimately, this is about morality.”
“We are America, and we hold ourselves to a higher standard,” he said.
McCain also wrote about his opposition to “enhanced interrogation techniques” in an op-ed in today’s Washington Post.
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What is the purpose of this article? Where is the direct question of Panetta to corroborate McCain’s assertion?
Posted by: deanbob | May 12, 2011, 11:55 am 11:55 am
…,and the Democrat nominated Republican candidate for 2008 continues to bloviate…
Posted by: n'erdowell | May 12, 2011, 11:57 am 11:57 am
Thank goodness Sen. McCain made this statement. Maybe this will put to rest the assertion that torture works.
Posted by: Lorri | May 12, 2011, 12:07 pm 12:07 pm
better late than never
Posted by: Doug | May 12, 2011, 12:07 pm 12:07 pm
Mr. Cain,,,you restored your dignity with standing up to those who feel that they were responsible in capturing Bin Laden. They are so childish and jealous that they are lying about their merhods being helpful when in reality, as you said, they proved to be false information and lies. None of which led them to Bin Laden. Had they…I am sure Bush and Cheney would have loved to capture him. However, they did not have the info nor the guts to try to get him for fear of the results. You have gone up a few notches in my estimate when once I thought a great deal of you. However, you made some horrific statements and I turned on you. You are proving you were once a maverick and I liked you better that way.
Posted by: Talmag | May 12, 2011, 12:30 pm 12:30 pm
John McCain ( and I thought I could never say this) May the Supreme Being bless you for having the courage to tell the truth! We actually need more courage like this versus the “demogoguery” we were (and still are) subjected to by the previous administration.
Posted by: CND FOX | May 12, 2011, 12:32 pm 12:32 pm
Senator McCain, thank you. Thank you for standing up against those who mistakenly support torturing prisoners.
I agree that harsh interrogation degrades our national character and puts US soldiers at greater risk of torture in the future.
“Ultimately, this is about morality.” Now let’s apply that thought to our budget discussions as well.
Posted by: green.goddess | May 12, 2011, 12:42 pm 12:42 pm
Thank goodness Sen. McCain made this statement. Maybe this will put to rest the assertion that torture works.
Posted by: Lorri
____________________________
Khalid Sheik Mohammed would NOT just voluntarily tell the US military about Bin Laden’s whereabouts or about the courier.
Interrogators had to do SOMETHYING to force KSM to talk and I certainly don’t think they made KSM talk by offering him lollypops.
I think McCain may have been thinking about his own torture in Vietnam which was the basis for his statement.
Posted by: spike | May 12, 2011, 12:46 pm 12:46 pm
And “Spike”…LOl…I suppose you were right there when they “extracted such valuable info from Mohammed”? LOL…or are you just going by the previous administration’s claims? You know the ones that started a war over WMD??? LOL…LOL
Posted by: CND FOX | May 12, 2011, 12:50 pm 12:50 pm
“Mukasey has said Mohammed “broke like a dam” during the 183 waterboardings performed on him.” Breaking like a dam is what anyone would do to get someone to stop torturing them. But, that doesn’t mean the information is credible. What possible reason would investigators have to waterboard someone 183 times???? Didn’t like what they heard? Wasn’t enough information? Tried using the information and found out it was bogus? This stinks to high heaven and I don’t believe for one minute that KSM gave up ANYTHING during any of the torturous activities. I’m not a McCain fan, but I do admire his passion about not using torture to obtain information.
Posted by: Bolo | May 12, 2011, 12:52 pm 12:52 pm
DEANBOB,
The purpose of this article, as is often the case to disprove the ill informed conservatives of their lies and willful, and ungodly misrepresentations. In other words, it is the pursuit of truth.
Posted by: zazu | May 12, 2011, 1:05 pm 1:05 pm
Yeah, Khalid Sheik Mohammed just volunteered the courier’s name when we said “Please.”
Sorry McCain, but Panetta wouldn’t know squat because he was NOT in office when this happened. If it was YOUR child at stake, every one of you hypocrites on this forum would be using WHATEVER it took to extract the information.
It’s about time that you woke up and realized, IT IS YOUR CHILD AT STAKE!
Posted by: memphispiano | May 12, 2011, 1:24 pm 1:24 pm
There has been no evidence that a critical piece of information came to us by torture. My understanding is that the break to catching him was due to intelligence analysts were able to see how all the information fit together. There was no one critical piece that solved the issue and all pieces had multiple sources to confirm it was likely correct. All pieces that did not fit the pattern was either inaccurate or was of no importance to the capture of bin Laden. I am proud of McCain speaking up about false claims that have been stated and especially glad he reinforced that we should not adopt practices that violate the image of what our country stands for!!
Posted by: MikeMo1947 | May 12, 2011, 1:24 pm 1:24 pm
Thank God the words “HONESTY” and “TRUTH” still mean something to a Republican.
Thank you Mr. McCain.
I had always known you were an honorable man despite the torture in the Hanoi Hilton.
You pay humage to veterans by this admission. I tip my hat to you.
There are really times when we must look beyond politics for the sake of our dear country.
Posted by: STEVE_NJ | May 12, 2011, 1:37 pm 1:37 pm
He’s the only Republican that can admit he’s wrong and doesn’t lie just to save face.
Posted by: justayreal74 | May 12, 2011, 3:02 pm 3:02 pm
McCain has no credibility concering anything he has to say. He has become an Obama apologist since the last election. Just another old school RINO that needs to switch parties or be voted out. Maybe he’s hoping to run as Obama’s Vice President. Other than that it makes no sense his constant defense of Obama’s own lies.
Posted by: RevTech | May 12, 2011, 4:41 pm 4:41 pm
Et tu, Brute!
Posted by: Voice_Reason | May 12, 2011, 7:27 pm 7:27 pm
RevTech – Republicans and Democrats put their party ahead of the needs of Americans. They just parrot their party positions. RINOs and DINOs put their country ahead of their party even if it makes party loyalist upset. Because of this, they study the facts and options before stating their position.
Posted by: MikeMo1947 | May 12, 2011, 8:22 pm 8:22 pm
I guess McCain will be public enemy #1 on Faux News tomorrow. Hannity, O’Reilly and the gang will tear one of their own, McCain apart tomorrow just to minimize President Obama’s accomplishment.
Posted by: ckagmd | May 12, 2011, 10:24 pm 10:24 pm
A politician who actually speaks with his conscience rather than spouting some party line nonsense. How refreshing!
Posted by: DaveM | May 12, 2011, 11:00 pm 11:00 pm
I have a feeling McCain is singing his swan song. I wonder if he is going o announce his retirement or decline to run for re-election? That is the only reason I can think of for him to stray so far from the Republican line. Whatever the reason, he is one of the few people who can actually talk with authority on the subject.
Posted by: kay | May 13, 2011, 8:59 am 8:59 am
I like President Obama’s methods much better….find them; shoot them; toss into the ocean; done.
Posted by: Bill | May 14, 2011, 9:17 pm 9:17 pm
Thank you Senator McCain, for standing for the moral high ground and for the soul of America.
Posted by: Rod | May 15, 2011, 1:04 pm 1:04 pm
Thanks you Senator McCain. I always admired you until the last election. Now I tip my hat to your truth telling. Stay that way. We need good leaders in every camp.
Posted by: Jules | May 15, 2011, 5:26 pm 5:26 pm
Even Queen Elizabeth the first realized that torture did not elicit good information. People have known this for centuries. A country that tortures has no morals. That is not what our country has been about. The republicans say they are the moral party but truly have not been for at least 20 years.
Posted by: livefreeforever | May 16, 2011, 10:24 am 10:24 am