agent

As usual, we only get half of the story.  Waterboarding worked.  We got information which disrupted several plots.  On the other hand, Brian Ross of ABC News didn’t really ask about false information that sent federal agents on wild goose chases.  He didn’t mention that Abu Zabayduh was mentally disturbed from a head injury that he suffered years earlier.  He also didn’t mention that James Risen reported that the FBI was getting good information out of Zabayduh without torture.

Why did this CIA operative speak out now?  Do you smell a book deal in the air?

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From ABC News:

A leader of the CIA team that captured the first major al Qaeda figure, Abu Zubaydah, says subjecting him to waterboarding was torture but necessary.

In the first public comment by any CIA officer involved in handling high-value al Qaeda targets, John Kiriakou, now retired, said the technique broke Zubaydah in less than 35 seconds.  (more…)