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Ear to the Ground

Bush Approved CIA Waterboarding Disclosure

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Posted on Feb 6, 2008

The confirmation, delivered by CIA Director Michael Hayden on Tuesday, that the U.S. intelligence agency did indeed use the now-infamous severe interrogation technique of waterboarding on three major 9/11 suspects was given the green light by President Bush in a rare show of (relative) transparency.


Reuters India:

“The president authorized Gen. Hayden to say what he said in the testimony yesterday,” White House spokesman Tony Fratto told reporters.

Bush’s decision to allow testimony on waterboarding, a major shift from his policy of keeping it under wraps, was prompted by heated public debate and a consensus in the administration on the need “to be very clear about how those techniques were used and what the benefits were,” Fratto said.

Hayden told the Senate Intelligence Committee that waterboarding was used on suspected Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and senior al Qaeda leaders Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri.

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By lilmamzer, February 7, 2008 at 10:36 am Link to this comment

Cyrena writes this: “Lil mamzer, when you’re incapable of a reasonable response to anything, why make any?”

after writing (with no sense of embarrassment or shame) this: “There is NO independent corroboration of the 9/11 story about Islamic terrorists highjacking 4 airplanes and crashing them. NONE.
ZERO, NADA. “

The evidence is overwhelming, and from multiple sources. Your tin-foil-hat must be screening out that portion of reality for you. Your world-view is that of conspiracy and boogeymen, Cyrena. I read these pages and occasionally comment for amusement, because you deserve to have ridicule heaped on you, frankly. If a fringe ever had a fringe, you would be just to the left of that.

Ever heard of Mohammed Atta? Please, run with that and lay out your (specious) reasons why his involvement in the plotting and execution of the 9-11 Islamic atrocities cannot be corroborated “independently”.

One of the odd things about you is how you capriciously build your wild-ass theories around whatever sources are convenient at the moment. No methodology or protocol involved.

You and Chalmers - my favorite <strike>Truth</strike>CrapDig characters.

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By cyrena, February 7, 2008 at 10:10 am Link to this comment

Lil mamzer, when you’re incapable of a reasonable response to anything, why make any? You tell on yourself that way…is it your fear or your ignorance that compels you to do this?

I mean seriously…think about it. You’ve got 2 lines of a response here, that basically says….NOTHING. Just your standard insult about ‘tin-foil-hats’ (that you always use to smear me) and there’s never even a remote connection.

Think of something better. Enjoy your coffee.

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By lilmamzer, February 7, 2008 at 5:14 am Link to this comment

......because THAT”S what the administration based their entire 9/11 conspiracy on. They tortured KSM, repeatedly, via waterboarding and various other methods, and eventually, he ‘confessed’ to everything under the sun and the moon. And, it is ONLY his ‘confessions’ along with whatever else the made up, that form the entire foundation of the ‘official’ 9/11 conspiracy. There is NO independent corroboration of the 9/11 story about Islamic terrorists highjacking 4 airplanes and crashing them. NONE.
ZERO, NADA.

Yet another of Cyrena’s textbook tin-foil-hat ‘Troofer’ rants.

Good comedy to go along with my morning coffee.

Thank you!

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By Wort, February 6, 2008 at 2:30 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

I know it happens regularly, but does the president actually have legal authority to allow or disallow testimony in a court of law? He gets to choose?? WTF!

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By felicity, February 6, 2008 at 12:10 pm Link to this comment

waterboarding?  Remember how Mr. Bush took great delight in ‘branding’ the butts of new members to his fraternity with a red-hot coat hanger? And his rationale?  He answered the challenge of its cruelty by saying that it was no worse than a ‘cigarette burn.’

He’s probably on the one hand mystified by this whole discussion of waterboarding as well as perfectly comfortable with Hayden spilling the beans.  (In fact, waterboarding’s probably become a Bush ‘brag’ and no sense in keeping a brag to one’s self.)

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By cyrena, February 6, 2008 at 12:06 pm Link to this comment

“…..was given the green light by President Bush in a rare show of (relative) transparency…..”

Relative is definitely the operative word here. Ostensible would work as well. This requires a read between the lines…


•  Bush’s decision to allow testimony on waterboarding, a major shift from his policy of keeping it under wraps, was prompted by heated public debate and a consensus in the administration on the need “to be very clear about how those techniques were used and what the benefits were,” Fratto said.

In short, they want us to believe that torture was actually ‘effective’ or had ‘benefits’ in obtaining valid information, because THAT”S what the administration based their entire 9/11 conspiracy on. They tortured KSM, repeatedly, via waterboarding and various other methods, and eventually, he ‘confessed’ to everything under the sun and the moon. And, it is ONLY his ‘confessions’ along with whatever else the made up, that form the entire foundation of the ‘official’ 9/11 conspiracy. There is NO independent corroboration of the 9/11 story about Islamic terrorists highjacking 4 airplanes and crashing them. NONE.
ZERO, NADA.

Everything the official story claims about 9/11, and this scenario, comes from KSM or one of the other ‘suspects’ UNDER TORTURE!! (which we know will produce ‘confessions’, but not necessarily true information).

So now, the gangster administration, (and probably not even george himself) have finally been forced to come out with it, and to try to prove that it (torture) works, in order to hold their story together, but also because public debate DID force this. This is a little bit like Cheney being resigned to acknowledging the NIE report regarding Iran’s NON-EXISTENT nuclear weapons program, once it had leaked out.

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