Former military interrogator says torture cost hundreds 'if not thousands' of American lives

Former military interrogator says torture cost hundreds 'if not thousands' of American lives

rawstory.com

A 14-year military interrogator has undercut one of the key arguments posited by Vice President Dick Cheney in favor of the Bush Administration’s torture techniques and alleged that the use of torture has cost “hundreds if not thousands” of American lives.

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Video Of Interview



This does not surprise me at all. If I was tortured by someone, I would do anything in my power to get back at the perpetrators. I wonder how Cheney would respond to this ...

More from the article

Moreover, Alexander avers that many — as many as 90 percent — of those captured in Iraq said they joined the fight against the United States because of the torture conducted at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay.

“At the prison where I conducted interrogations,” Alexander said, “we heard day in and day out, foreign fighters who had been captured state that the number one reason that they had come to fight in Iraq was because of torture and abuse, what had happened at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib.”

“Cheney,’ said Alexander, ‘fundamentally misunderstands the way America is viewed around the world,” a reporter who reviewed the video wrote Tuesday. “The American principles of freedom and democracy are cherished in the Muslim world and the idea, at least, of America is still a seductive one. But it is the behavior of the Bush administration at Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib and secret prisons around the globe that undercuts that image, allowing Al Qaeda to make the argument that America isn’t what it stands for.”

What are your thoughts?

rawstory.com
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reply to post by baseball101


Sounds like a bunch of more hoopla to me on this bdead horse called "torture" what there excuse going to be now that we dont use these methods?

reply to post by poedxsoldiervet


haha i have no idea. It seems like no one can make up there mind on the country's stance imo

Torture achieved exactly what Cheney and co. wanted.
It mobilised an enemy.

The plan was always to take over Iraq. The bases built there are permanent. But the American public and the world needed to see some excuse for staying there.

Freedom fighters combined with false flags provide that excuse.

Does anyone seriously believe Cheney cares how many young Americans die over there?

alleged that the use of torture has cost “hundreds if not thousands” of American lives.

Based on the fact that the entire link between Saddam and 9/11 was based on a lie spouted by a tortured individual, and the fact that this particular lie was the driving reason for our going over there in the first place, I'd say this fellow is right on the money.

We have so far lost over 4000 American lives in Iraq, all because of the ineffectiveness of torture. Al Libi lied about the connection between Iraq and Al Qaeda in order to stop the torture he was enduring, the Bush admin used that lie as the basis for our invasion, and now 4000 brave men and women have had their lives tragically cut short.

Cause and effect.

Originally posted by Kailassa
Torture achieved exactly what Cheney and co. wanted.
It mobilised an enemy.

The plan was always to take over Iraq. The bases built there are permanent. But the American public and the world needed to see some excuse for staying there.

Freedom fighters combined with false flags provide that excuse.

Does anyone seriously believe Cheney cares how many young Americans die over there?

couldn't agree with you more ... forgot about Osama bin Laden as an excuse too.