Interrogator Ali Soufan: Bush Told ‘Half-Truth’ About Zubaydah’s Interrogation
Interrogator Ali Soufan: Bush Told ‘Half-Truth’ About Zubaydah’s Interrogation
In 2006, President Bush proudly described the “alternative set of procedures” used on detainee Abu Zubaydah to extract “information that could save innocent lives.” “I can say the procedures were tough, and they were safe, and lawful, and necessary,” Bush said.
During today’s judiciary subcommittee hearing on torture, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) questioned former FBI interrogator Ali Soufan, who led a successful interrogation of Abu Zubaydah. Whitehouse read a portion of Bush’s speech describing Zubaydah’s interrogation, and asked Soufan whether it was an “accurate” depiction. Soufan said it appeared Bush had been told “half-truths,” and agreed with Whitehouse that he then repeated these “half-truths”:
WHITEHOUSE: Does that statement accurately reflect the interrogation of Abu Zubydah?
SOUFAN: Well, the environment that he’s talking about, yes, it reflects, you know, he was injured, he required medical care. But I think the president — my own personal opinion here, based on my recollection — he was told probably half-truth.
WHITEHOUSE: And repeated half-truth obviously. The statement as presented does not conform to what you know to be the case from your experience on hand.
SOUFAN: Yes. Yes sir. Yes sir.
Watch it:
Whitehouse also read a portion of the May, 2005 OLC memo that claimed that Zubaydah “identified Khalid Sheikh Mohammed as the mastermind of the Sep. 11 attacks” only “once enhanced techniques were employed.” Whitehouse asked Soufan if this was accurate:
WHITEHOUSE: From your position at the actual interrogation of Abu Zubaydah you know that statement not to be true?
SOUFAN: Yes sir.
Indeed, Soufan and his team nursed extracted valuable information from Zubaydah — including, most importantly, the identify of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed — while nursing him back to health. “We were able to get the information about Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a couple of days,” Soufan told Newsweek. “We didn’t have to do any of this [torture]. We could have done this the right way.”
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wow big shocker or something
May 13th, 2009 at 1:52 pmAnother confirmation that BUSH LIED. I wonder what Cheney will say now? Lying old coot!
May 13th, 2009 at 1:58 pmZubaydah probably expected to be killed, since that’s probably what al Qeada would have done, but they cared for him. Of course he talked.
Well done, Ali Soufan.
May 13th, 2009 at 2:00 pmgee, Bush lied
in other news:
water is wet
gravity sucks
right wingers are cowards
any other well known facts need headlines?
May 13th, 2009 at 2:03 pmI regret that nothing will be done to the perpetrators. If I believed in God I could hope for justice to be served when they die, but I don’t. There is no consequence for these scum.
May 13th, 2009 at 2:04 pmCan we sink any lower? Bush and his cabal have destroyed everything our country stood for. And what is MSM doing? Making apologies and reframing the debate. Now it’s not that we don’t torture, BUT it was effective. By showcasing Cheney’s defense, they are muting the real travisty of torture itself. This is literally making my stomach turn.
May 13th, 2009 at 2:04 pmSoufan told Newsweek. “We didn’t have to do any of this [torture]. We could have done this the right way.”
But, but, but that wouldn’t have been sadistic enough.
May 13th, 2009 at 2:04 pmDoesn’t he remember how we all felt after 9/11?
Isn’t that right, Harold Ford? (I hope you never get elected to anything again, and MSNBC should just ship your asss straight to FOX)
.
I didn’t know that the President of the USA could lie with impunity, to the American public and the Senate, so as to start a war based on false evidence awaiting a coerced confession through TORTURE?
WOW!!!
.
May 13th, 2009 at 2:04 pmbarrelhse,
May 13th, 2009 at 2:06 pmPlease don’t insult scum…
let’s see………”half truth”? Isn’t that like being a little bit pregnant?
May 13th, 2009 at 2:06 pm.
I. SEE. WINGNUT. HEADS. EXPLODING.
.
May 13th, 2009 at 2:07 pmYeah, but remember, Clinton lied about a blowjob, and that’s much more important….
May 13th, 2009 at 2:08 pmSen. Whitehouse was on both Ed & Olbermann last night. He stayed right on target, never straying from the fact these legal ‘memos’ were illegal in opinion, & the WH was waterboarding before telling ANY congressional officials.
Thank you, Senator Whitehouse. We need you and others like Feingold & Rep. Kucinich to ‘keep poking the pig’.
Poking the pig may not be politically correct, it annoys the pig, too. But eventually…
the pig squeals.
May 13th, 2009 at 2:13 pm.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gUzD1Ud4Lk
.
May 13th, 2009 at 2:13 pm.
Dear Trollies,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VGOa2yBt7E
.
May 13th, 2009 at 2:14 pmLet’s see. There’s no need to torture. It doesn’t produce reliable results. It violates policy that goes back to George Washington. It violates international law.
But it is ok in the reichwing ethos. Totally bankrupt.
May 13th, 2009 at 2:15 pmWhat’s the big deal? As raynman points out, it’s not like Bush lied about getting a hummer. THAT would have been SERIOUS.
May 13th, 2009 at 2:16 pmZimzone says:
‘keep poking the pig’.
Rove? Cheney? Ewwww…
May 13th, 2009 at 2:16 pm“As Soufan tells the story, he challenged a CIA official at the scene about the agency’s legal authority to do what it was doing. “We’re the United States of America, and we don’t do that kind of thing,” he recalls shouting at one point. But the CIA official, whom Soufan refuses to name because the agent’s identity is still classified, brushed aside Soufan’s concerns.”
In other words, Soufan knew he would be committing TORTURE and REFUSED to do so EVEN WITH ORDERS FROM GONZALES! What a stand-up guy. And for him to tell congress that W lied – what a god-send! Thanks Mr. Soufan and Senator Whitehouse – America needed [needs] more MEN like you.
May 13th, 2009 at 2:19 pmI just wish someone would say flat-out, “He lied.” Instead, it’s always something like, “The statement as presented does not conform to what you know to be…blah, blah, blah.”
He lied. They lied. They are still lying.
May 13th, 2009 at 2:23 pmWhitehouse also read a portion of the May, 2005 OLC memo that claimed that Zubaydah “identified Khalid Sheikh Mohammed as the mastermind of the Sep. 11 attacks”
__________
Do you know who else identified Khalid Sheikh Mohammed as the mastermind of the September 11 attacks? Khalid Sheikh Mohammed!
The man friggin bragged about it to an al-Jazeera reporter months before he was captured. No waterboarding necessary.
May 13th, 2009 at 2:23 pmMax Anax junius -1 Says:
The only mushroom cloud I see is over the GOP – LMAO! BOOM!
May 13th, 2009 at 2:23 pmThe truth.
May 13th, 2009 at 2:24 pmNow with 50% less truth.
This morning on MSNBC, needless to say, Scarborough stated that he ‘backs Cheney’ in that TORTURE was not used and this is all a big todo about nothing. Can’t help but wonder what he thinks of this testimony by someone who was actually there by the name of Ali Soufan. I guess tomorrow morning he will denounce his testimony as well because after all, Cheney [and Bush] can do wrong in the eyes of ‘every’ Repuglicant.
May 13th, 2009 at 2:28 pmOT: Gibbs is hilarious dealing with the press critters that can’t seem to silence their cellphones
he just ‘confiscated’ one, then another rang, but the reporter left with it. upon returning, the reporter asked ‘what’d i miss?’
gibbs responded ‘you guys brief him on our new SC nominee’
too funny
May 13th, 2009 at 2:29 pmtoasterhead,
Dead on!
.
May 13th, 2009 at 2:37 pmAnd leave it to MENZA’s brainchild, GOP Senator Lindsey Graham who cited an infamous ABC News report from 2007 that said a terror suspect broke under minimal waterboarding, and suggested it undercut the claim that torture didn’t work.
But Graham didn’t appear to be aware that the report has since been debunked, and that ABC itself has since corrected the record. from the Plum Line
Of course, he didn’t excuse himself or provide an apology, as he continued on with his questioning after a BLANK STARE FOR SEVERAL SECONDS! He is just like the rest of them – IDIOTS!
May 13th, 2009 at 2:39 pmHalf Truths? Only Half Truths?
F that, call it what it is…A LIE!!
That’s what we had for a President, a LIAR.
But of course no one is going to do anything about his WAR CRIMES.
He’s gonna get a pass because of Politics.
May 13th, 2009 at 3:02 pmGee golly whiz, a half wit told a half truth because his half president didn’t trust him.
The only place half doesn’t come into it is good ole Dick who is bragging whole heartedly about being a criminal.
May 13th, 2009 at 4:18 pm