CIA Director Confirms Use of Waterboarding

05Feb08

The CIA has confirmed, in testimony to Congress, the use of waterboarding and other ‘enhanced interrogation techniques.’  According to director Michael Hayden, the CIA has used such techniques on “less than a third” of its detainees.

“Hayden said the technique, the use of which has drawn harsh criticism, has not been used in almost five years because the agency has more knowledge to bring to bear in questioning detainees.”

Hayden has also asserted that, to the best of his knowledge, the use of torture techniques is legal under certain circumstances, and that “You have to know the circumstances to be able to make the judgment.”

I wonder what circumstances Hayden is talking about.  Since he asserts that the techniques were used more frequently when interrogators had less information and fewer resources to bring to bear (in other words, when interrogators couldn’t do a proper, legal, and infinitely more valuable interrogation), I assume that the circumstances he’s talking about are those when the CIA is feeling desperate and down on its luck.  It’s not surprising – that’s when torture is usually used.  And that’s why it doesn’t yield results.

Quotes taken from coverage by Congressional Quarterly:

http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=cqmidday-000002666099

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