Duncan Hunter: Torture Provided ‘Enormously Valuable Information That Saved American Lives’
Duncan Hunter: Torture Provided ‘Enormously Valuable Information That Saved American Lives’
Last night on MSNBC’s “Hardball,” Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) ardently defended the Bush administration’s torture policy, echoing Vice President Cheney’s claim that torture yielded life-saving results. He pointed to waterboarding Abu Zubayda and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was remarkably successful. “After this procedure,” Duncan said, “we got enormously valuable information that saved American lives.” Watch it:
Despite Hunter’s claims, the torture of Abu Zubayda and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed provided next to zero useful intelligence, as a recent Vanity Fair article revealed:
But according to a former senior C.I.A. official, who read all the interrogation reports on K.S.M., “90 percent of it was total f*cking bullsh*t.” A former Pentagon analyst adds: “K.S.M. produced no actionable intelligence. He was trying to tell us how stupid we were.”
In fact, the article explained that the “intelligence” gleaned from Zubayda was false information about non-existent links between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein — information the Bush administration seized on as a major part of its argument for the Iraq war, as a former Pentagon analyst explained:
“The intelligence community was lapping this up, and so was the administration, obviously. Abu Zubaydah was saying Iraq and al-Qaeda had an operational relationship. It was everything the administration hoped it would be.” [...]
“The White House knew he’d been tortured. I didn’t, though I was supposed to be evaluating that intelligence. … It seems to me they were using torture to achieve a political objective.”
Rather than “saving American lives,” torturing Zubayda provided false intelligence that led to a catastrophic war that killed more than 4,000 Americans. What’s more, as former interrogators and military officials have said, torture has directly led to the deaths of thousands of American soldiers through its use as an effective recruiting tool for al Qaeda and insurgents.
Sort Comments By: Top Rated | Date
44 Responses to “Duncan Hunter: Torture Provided ‘Enormously Valuable Information That Saved American Lives’”
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog Roll
Prosecute!
December 19th, 2008 at 1:03 pmEven McCain has said that under "harsh interrogation" he provided his captors with false information. Hunter and other cretins who believe as he does are just plain wrong. Terrorism experts from all perspectives are unanimous in their condemnation of torture as a reliable means.
December 19th, 2008 at 1:08 pmHunter and the rest of the Cheney fan club would apparently have no problem with our own people enduring torture when they are captured. With their philosophy, we have no righteous stance to object.
They use the flimsy excuse of the enemy not having uniforms, therefore they don't fall under universally accepted rules of war.
It's time for a national scientific test of torture's effectiveness. The right-wingnuts don't believe the existing science so it is apparently that some of them must be intimately involved in the new research.
I propose that we randomly choose twenty-five Republican members of Congress (are there that many left? - let's just use half of them to be sure) and submit them to torture to see if they will provide us "information" that George W. Bush lied us into war with Iraq, illegally spied on Americans, and has been an active alcoholic during his entire presidency. When, as they will, admit to this information, we reserve the right to use it as actionable intelligence to send Bush to Gitmo. As a control will just ask the other half of the Republican membership if these allegations are true.
December 19th, 2008 at 1:11 pmIt's really pretty simple. If we are the good guys, then we should be trying to convince the bad guys that they're working for the wrong side. Demonstrating that we are better than they are is more effective than simply telling them, and, if successful will be more valuable than a hundred of the enemy broken through torture.
From where I'm sitting, this is painfully obvious.
We hear about military victories and terrorist plots foiled but where is our propaganda? There are people in this country making fortunes by selling water and sugar pills to millions of people by convincing them that their cancer will be cured as a result, but we can't convince a few hundred thousand that blowing themselves up to kill us might possibly be a bad idea? WTF?
December 19th, 2008 at 1:19 pmIt's all true...except for the part where it didn't.
The sick thing is I think Hunter is sorry he didn't get to do any torture himself.
Andrew Sullivan Is A Fraud
December 19th, 2008 at 1:19 pmThese Republicans are unbelievable. One of them lies and the other one swears to it. All these enablers should be water boarded until they admit they're traitors to this country and the constitution.
December 19th, 2008 at 1:21 pmUp against the wall.
December 19th, 2008 at 1:23 pmIt must be heartbreaking for all the neocons every time another report comes out showing that torture simply doesn't work.
Because if they can't torture people, what will they be able to do to get their jollies?
December 19th, 2008 at 1:25 pmExcuse Me!!!
All that I been hearing the past 8 years is: "The United States does not use torture". Now its ok to admit it, after numerous people have said that it never happened. What the fa la la la is wrong with these people? Do they really think that our memories are that short? I get it, this is more "legacy" talk.
IDIOTS
RIP
December 19th, 2008 at 1:26 pmSGT Stephen R. Sherman
C CO 1-5 IN (STRYKER)
KIA 3 Feb 2005
Mosul,Iraq
Ladies and Gentlemen, Damen und Herren: the Bush Legacy.
December 19th, 2008 at 1:28 pmBlueProteus @ 8- Well, there's always their old standby- wife/girlfriend beating, and child abuse and neglect.
December 19th, 2008 at 1:32 pmWe continue to see, as we see in this example, how our media and what passes for reporting or journalism or news, is a huge problem. They lob a question that is targeted to receive a designed response.
December 19th, 2008 at 1:33 pmDuncan Hunter: several months ago I read that he had his staff send letters to African countries offering to come and hunt wildebeast, and then hand out his kills to the starving children!! His crack staff sent letters to countries where big game hunting is illegal, and even to one country with NO wildebeast!
Of course, his safari would have been on the tax-payers dime. I never heard if anyone in Africa accepted his offer.
And, just what are his bona fides on the toruture issue?
December 19th, 2008 at 1:33 pmDoesn't this "it saved American lives" meme fall into the same category as "the Chinese are drilling for oil off the coast of Cuba", "Obama isn't a natural-born citizen", and "Saddam was hiding WMDs"?
That is -- thoroughly debunked but still spewed by the wingnuts, hoping to find people stupid enough to believe it?
December 19th, 2008 at 1:36 pmThey use the flimsy excuse of the enemy not having uniforms, therefore they don’t fall under universally accepted rules of war.
I watched this interview last night, and I believe he said that if we wanted/needed information from someone we captured, that, even if they were in uniform, torture would be appropriate. Sickening.
December 19th, 2008 at 1:43 pmDuncan needs to brush up on his talking points. The ones he’s using are so old they’ve got cob webs. I suppose this is his effort at moving farther to the right. Since they have no reason to move farther to the right, this makes them look stupid. Hey Duncan, can you spell alienate?
December 19th, 2008 at 1:43 pm“After this procedure,” Duncan said, “we got enormously valuable information that saved American lives.”
He just admitted a crime. I bet he will be prosecuted. I mean thats what they do with the poor people that admits robbing a K-Mart.
December 19th, 2008 at 1:52 pmI CAN'T WAIT FOR THESE IDIOTS TO FIND OUT FIRST HAND WHAT THEY WILL ADMIT TO JUST AS LONG AS THE TORTURER STOPS.
December 19th, 2008 at 1:54 pmThe Bush Torture Policy will be used by future terrorist even if Obama strikes it down. Now let's see how Hunter feels when he reads the innocent American men/woman/children and they are kidnapped/tortured/raped/murdered. No call the United Nations for help either. What goes around comes around.
December 19th, 2008 at 1:54 pmI was waiting for Matthews to rebut the intelligence info procured using torture, but Matthews said NOTHING. Matthews should have been prepared, at least with statements from the Vanity Fair article.
Why did he let Duncan's comments go unchallenged?? Reminds me of the so-called 'liberal media' NOT challenging or investigating the Bushies pre-invasion statements!!
Matthews only challenge was about the unfairness of Lyndie England and her boyfriend's conviction and he let Duncan's LIES stand. Mindbloggling!!
December 19th, 2008 at 1:54 pmSo as I interpret this, the Administration considers the torture program to be a raving success. NOT because it led to convictions (we now hear that evidence gleened through coersion will not be accepted), not because it took so many bad guys out of the arena, not because it led to credible leads but because it gave them FALSE (totally incidental) information that COULD be used to propogate their lies and further their illegal cause. Jumpin Jeebus on a pogo-stick it just get's worse every day. They weren't even caring if the intel that they forced from these detainees was credible. As long as it fed them fodder for the propoganda machine. They weren't trying to protect us at all, they just wanted to insure that their war kept on rolling.
December 19th, 2008 at 1:57 pmTired Of Fighting Says:
All that I been hearing the past 8 years is: “The United States does not use torture”. Now its ok to admit it, after numerous people have said that it never happened. What the fa la la la is wrong with these people? Do they really think that our memories are that short? I get it, this is more “legacy” talk.
December 19th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
_________
Totally. The truth is out now, so they have nothing left but to go into spin mode. They can no longer deny that the U.S. used torture, so now they have to promote the "good side" of torture to the ignorant, 24-watching masses.
It's probably gonna work, too. I don't have very high hopes for investigations or prosecutions of this stuff.
December 19th, 2008 at 1:59 pmPERINO: This president has said that we did interrogate terrorists, and we did so to protect the country from possible imminent terrorist attack. We did not torture.
December 19th, 2008 at 2:05 pmHmmmmmm, my response to Duncan is in line with those of the administration he seems to support -- So what? So what if you think torture saved lives? It's illegal. Heck, what the US has been doing has been viewed as torture since the Spanish Inquisition. Centuries.
Here's a simple one for him, and one I'm certain he'll understand given his recent campaign platform. Some people think smoking pot is ok, but it's still illegal and a lot of good Americans are wasting away in jail for getting caught doing something illegal.
The difference here is that Cheney is gloating about his illegality and buffoons like Duncan are there to parrot the talking points.
They broke the law. The reason they broke the law is because they were caught with their pants down, were supremely incompetent and didn't know what they were doing before some small, but rather well financed, group decided to hijack planes and, rather than sit on the tarmac, decided to crash them into buildings, in the US no less. And because of this, Cheney and his token POTUS decided that that g-d piece of paper was expendable. They deserve what I'm confident Duncan would think any other criminal deserves.
December 19th, 2008 at 2:07 pmI doubt we could get any reliable information out of Hunter, even if he was tortured.
December 19th, 2008 at 2:08 pmAnother frigging right wing-nut liar. WTF is wrong with these people? Are they that disconnected with reality or do they just enjoy lying? Both probably. And what in the hell is wrong with the people in his district? This load of crap needs to be flushed back into the cesspool he came from. It is really difficult trying to maintain being a pacifist when I want to knock this fukwads teeth down his lying trought. Sorry for the violent thoughts.
Pax
December 19th, 2008 at 2:22 pmDuring the worst part of the Blitz, the British knew that it was futile to torture Nazi prisoners if they wanted good information and even made the slightest semblance of abuse a court-martial offense.
These comments just shows how far the GOP (corporate fascists, warmongers, psychopaths and religious bigots) have fallen from the philosophy and actions of Dwight Eisenhower.
December 19th, 2008 at 2:25 pmDr. Hussein Matt Says
December 19th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
PERINO: This president has said that we did interrogate terrorists, and we did so to protect the country from possible imminent terrorist attack. We did not torture.
____________________________________________________________
It's the neocon pretzel logic. "We did not torture anyone, but the torture provided us with enormously valuable information that saved American lives."
Kind of like, "Obama is a Muslim whose Christian pastor is a racist."
December 19th, 2008 at 2:25 pmI imagine forcing the fall guys to confess was 'very useful'.
December 19th, 2008 at 2:37 pmI think Darth Cheney likes torture and getting Americans killed because its the only way to get his little thingy hard.
December 19th, 2008 at 2:54 pmSomebody hook some jumper cables attached to a car battery to Hunter's nuts. We'll see how much actionable intelligence he can provide. I'm guessing he'd tell anybody whatever they wanted to hear, none of which would be useful.
December 19th, 2008 at 3:06 pmFU!!!
Tell that to American Soldiers who are tortured as a result of tactics that violate the Constitution(among other violations).
I hate these people.
December 19th, 2008 at 3:15 pmIf it provided information, tell us the information.
If it prevented attacks, tell us what the plots were.
And don't give me the "it's secret for our protection" line. Once a terrorist plot is stopped, the best thing you can do is to publicize it. That allows the public to watch out for similar activity, as well as putting potential terrorists on notice that such a plan isn't likely to work again.
Unless attacks prevented are explicitly stated, no one should get to claim there were any without challenge.
December 19th, 2008 at 3:23 pmDuncsn Hunter is a known thug.
December 19th, 2008 at 3:33 pmWell, there is the matter of the U.N. Convention Against Torture, a treaty that the U.S. adopted. Treaties are co-equal with the Constitution itself as the law of the land, per Article VI. The convention says: "No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political in stability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture."
Not that the Republican Party ever once gave a rat's ass in hell about something so quaint as "the rule of law."
December 19th, 2008 at 3:42 pmConservatives are delusional and can't process the truth through their partisan lunacy...
December 19th, 2008 at 4:53 pm.
R E M E M B E R:
The easiest way to be known as a Nation that tortures, is by endorsing the use of torture...
.
December 19th, 2008 at 4:59 pm.
Q U E S T I O N:
Is Duncan Hunter suggesting that torture is acceptable enough that it can also be used on Americans if other nations deem it necessary?
REALLY?
.
December 19th, 2008 at 5:02 pm.
N O T I C E:
Chris Mathews just let Duncan Hunter spew his pro-torture stance without being challenged to it's credibility or legality.
CHRIS MATTHEWS TACITLY ACCEPTED THE MEME THAT TORTURE IS A GOOD THING BECAUSE IT PRODUCES RESULTS... HE SAID NOTHING TO CHALLENGE HUNTER!
... Not even simply asking if torture is legal?
If Chris Matthews is an investigative reporter, I fail to see it.
.
December 19th, 2008 at 5:23 pmThis makes the case for allowing torture to become a routine part of every police investigation.
State-sponsored torture - isn't that one of the crimes Bush accused Saddam Hussein of committing?
December 19th, 2008 at 6:37 pmDidn't all the tapes documenting the torture interrogations get destroyed?
How convenient for the Bush/Cheney administration and all their right-wing mouthpieces. They can claim that using torture saved lives, but without the torture interrogation tapes to confirm their claim, then they are just asking us to "trust" them. HA!!
December 19th, 2008 at 10:32 pmLizCoro is right on. Matthews seemed to walked into that interview from another planet. Hunter also got away with saying that there was no connection between Abu Ghraib and Gitmo. An interviewer who was prepared would have challenged that lie. A really pitiful performance. David Schuster seems to be doing a little better than average - he should try to get Hunter on his show.
December 19th, 2008 at 10:59 pmHold on:
"Torturing the prisoner's child Provided ‘Enormously Valuable Information That Saved American Lives’”
Would that be ok?
December 19th, 2008 at 11:00 pmAlecto Says: wtf??!!
January 12th, 2009 at 4:46 pmyou go girlfriend!!!!!!!!! **snap**snap**
Torture away