Did 'enhanced interrogation' save Los Angeles?

American Thinker ^ | April 21, 2009 | William Tate

[2ndDivisionVet]

If you live in L.A. and didn't die in a terrorist attack, you may owe it to the CIA's use of the "enhanced interrogation techniques" that are currently under fire from the Obama administration and the left-wing fringe.

In a compelling Op-Ed in Tuesday's Washington Post, Marc A. Thiessen disproves Barack Obama's hollow claim that such techniques "did not make us safer." Rather than following the MSM lead and merely parroting the Obamatons' talking points after the release of previously-classified memos this week, Thiessen actually examined the documents.

Thiessen concludes that Obama's contention is "patently false. The proof is in the memos Obama made public -- in sections that have gone virtually unreported in the media."

"...that have gone virtually unreported in the media." No surprise there. The legacy media has proved to be singularly un-inquisitive when it comes to facts that get in the way of Obama talking points.

Thiessen specifically refers to a May, 2005 memo regarding two top al Qaeda operatives, Khalid Sheik Mohammed and Abu Zubaydah:

"the CIA believes 'the intelligence acquired from these interrogations has been a key reason why al Qaeda has failed to launch a spectacular attack in the West since 11 September 2001.' . . . In particular, the CIA believes that it would have been unable to obtain critical information from numerous detainees, including [Khalid Sheik Mohammed] and Abu Zubaydah, without these enhanced techniques... Before the CIA used enhanced techniques ... KSM resisted giving any answers to questions about future attacks, simply noting, 'Soon you will find out.' "

But once the enhanced techniques were used, "interrogations have led to specific, actionable intelligence, as well as a general increase in the amount of intelligence regarding al Qaeda and its affiliates."

In other words, the techniques worked when previous interrogation methods had failed.

Indeed, the memos point out that the only way to get information from Qaeda operatives may be through the use of such enhanced methods:

"as Abu Zubaydah himself explained with respect to enhanced techniques, 'brothers who are captured and interrogated are permitted by Allah to provide information when they believe they have reached the limit of their ability to withhold it in the face of psychological and physical hardship."

The CIA documents reveal specifically that the enhanced techniques:

"led to the discovery of a KSM plot, the 'Second Wave,' 'to use East Asian operatives to crash a hijacked airliner into' a building in Los Angeles... information obtained from KSM also led to the capture of Riduan bin Isomuddin, better known as Hambali, and the discovery of the Guraba Cell, a 17-member Jemmah Islamiyah cell tasked with executing the 'Second Wave.' "

Further, the memo states that KSM might never have been captured, and the information he revealed never learned, without enhanced interrogation techniques used against Zubaydah.

"...Zubaydah -- again, once enhanced techniques were employed -- furnished detailed information regarding al Qaeda's 'organizational structure, key operatives, and modus operandi' and identified KSM as the mastermind of the September 11 attacks."

The 'Second Wave' attack planned by KSM, thwarted by the use of enhanced interrogation techniques, would have hijacked a jetliner and crashed it into the Library Tower in Los Angeles, the tallest building on the West Coast. Thiessen points out, "without enhanced interrogations, there could be a hole in the ground in Los Angeles to match the one in New York."

But the impact would have been far worse than the physical devastation to L.A and the resultant thousands of casualties. The nation was reeling after 9/11, deadly anthrax was being delivered through the mail, the economy was in trouble. A follow-up attack on the West Coast would have meant that, potentially, no one was safe. The effect would have been devastating.

Even Obama's hand-picked CIA Director, has admitted that he might consent to enhanced interrogation techniques under a "ticking time bomb" scenario. And that is exactly the scenario in which the techniques were used during the Bush administration.

Perhaps the next time that Obama takes his Tele-prompter to L.A. to discuss "Overseas Contingency Operations," he should be grateful that they were.

[2ndDivisionVet]

The Democrats care more about terrorist's rights than our lives.

[Prole]

Mark was talking about this tonight as well.

If waterboarding saved the lives of the people of Los Angeles, then the damn communists and other registered democrats who control our government better publicly acknowledge that fact.

[Barney59]

I second that assessment

[PittsburghAfterDark]

At this point does it even matter if terrorists attack LA?

I mean, what’s there? Illegal aliens and rabid Democrats who have made that city and state into a 3rd world economy.

It really strikes me as odd that the overwhelming majority of high priority targets to terrorists are home to their most ardent defenders.

Useful idiots indeed.

[South40]

[Aria]

The original article was published in the Washington Post today and the comments were shocking. So very many side with Obama and think the Bush administration was evil and should be prosecuted. It’s absolutely insane.

[Chunga]

At this point does it even matter if terrorists attack LA?

Yes. Patricia Heaton and Bo Derek spend time there.

[TruthHound]

What’s in L.A.? Me, my wife and 4 children.

Thank you President George W. Bush for your commitment to keeping us safe. We owe you our lives.

Now if you find a terrorist with plans to take out San Francisco, hand him a cell phone and leave the room.

[Crim]

Damn....LMAO...great pic...

[Finny]

... the overwhelming majority of high priority targets to terrorists are home to their most ardent defenders.

Yes, it's ironic that New York, San Francisco, L.A., Chicago, D.C., and other major urban areas are so overloaded with liberals (take a look at the red-blue maps county by county) that the destruction of just one could change the outcome of a presidential election, if such elections were honest, which they're not -- vote fraud is rampant, but even there, the vote fraud is in metropolitan areas. Democrats have to cheat to win -- ACORN anyone? -- because in an honest election, they would lose because most Americans reject them.

NONETHELESS ... PAD ... do you know So Cal, or L.A., at all? Have you ever lived or worked there? Are you an ex-LAer who has rejected the place?

I was born and raised in rural agricultural small town environments and didn't move to the city until I was in my 30s. City people are ... well, city folks -- in many ways a pain, control-freaks, so out of touch with nature that they think dogs "are people too" and chicken farms are "cruel." I grew up in a place and time where, with some justification! -- bashing L.A. was (as it still is) the most popular indoor sport. It's easy to do, especially when one knows little or nothing about what is being bashed except that it's a cheap way of feeling superior and smarter.

I was humbled big-time when I ended up moving to So Cal and getting to know her cities and her people and her spirit. Born-and-bred city folks are indeed way out of touch with realities such as food and fiber production, live-and-let-live, and many things that make it so even if they move to a small farm town, they never escape the city, but instead bring all their city problems with them. It's the nature of the beast.

But at the same time, there is enormous resourcefulness, innovation, a certain kind of wisdom and savvy, vast amounts of love and kindness unexpected, and tough gumption in a whole helluva lot of the folks who live in L.A. that rural folks would do well to remember. It is a very humbling thing.

You'd be pretty surprised at how resourceful, generous, and self-sufficient (to the degree that it's possible in a compact region of about 12 million souls) that a vast number of people in So. Cal (what most of the world views as simply "L.A.") are. The Northridge earthquake knocked everything flat on its ass and the national media had a field day, presenting a picture to the rest of the country and the world of a city and people paralyzed. In reality -- and this was the first of many times THIS arrogant city-hating rural smarter-than-city-folks girl was humbled and impressed -- L.A.'s real people were back up and running and doing business in two days.

Never underestimate the resourcefulness of So Californians. And don't assume that just because it's a family of Spanish-speaking Mexicans that they're your "enemies" or third-worlders. A lot of those folks are the first to stand and put their hands over their hearts during the national anthem at sporting events -- I've seen it.

Be critical of stereotypes; while they're sometimes true or partly true, a lot of times they're flat mistaken. L.A. is one of this country's great resources, despite outsiders' delight in trashing the place.

[Brad’s Gramma]

It’s part of America, so yes. It matters.

Good grief.

[Finny]

See my post #10. :^)

As for San Franicisco ... I have had many good times up in that beautiful city ... but I'd be tempted do do what you advise with the cell phone!!! In its historical context, San Francisco is the most East Coast, Boston-New-York city in California. Since the early 1800s and through today, "sophisticates" from the Eastern Seaboard have considered L.A. beneath their notice, a cultural wasteland, and that San Francisco was/is the only half-way civlized or cultured city in California. That's why East Coast elites like Nancy Pelosi and Barbara Boxer (who are not Californians) moved there after being born, raised, and educated in the East.

[Talisker]

That’s the best sober defense of LA I’ve ever read. Thanks!

[Finny]

That’s the best sober defense of LA I’ve ever read. Thanks!

*hic* Don' menshun it! *erp* ;^)

[carumba]

The effect would have been devastating.
L.A.'s real people were back up and running and doing business in two days.
Maybe terrorism wouldn't affect us as much as reporters want say it does.

[Defiant]

Even Obama's hand-picked CIA Director, has admitted that he might consent to enhanced interrogation techniques under a "ticking time bomb" scenario. And that is exactly the scenario in which the techniques were used during the Bush administration.

Panetta might be a socialist rat, but he's an American. Obama is a Kenyan/Indonesian/Muslim who hates us. So glad the idiots elected him.

[lentulusgracchus]

The Democrats care more about terrorist's rights than our lives.

Welcome to the Seventies, fellas. Make yourselves at home in the Hotel California. Such a lovely place ...... you can never leave, though, not until 2010 at the earliest.

[backhoe]

Via GP:

Waterboarding 9-11 Planner Prevented Massive LA Terror Attack (Updated)

(Flickr)


Waterboarding Saves Lives.
The CIA confirmed that waterboarding 9-11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed led to information that prevented a similar attack on Los Angeles.
CNS News reported:

The Central Intelligence Agency told CNSNews.com today that it stands by the assertion made in a May 30, 2005 Justice Department memo that the use of “enhanced techniques” of interrogation on al Qaeda leader Khalid Sheik Mohammed (KSM) -- including the use of waterboarding -- caused KSM to reveal information that allowed the U.S. government to thwart a planned attack on Los Angeles.


Before he was waterboarded, when KSM was asked about planned attacks on the United States, he ominously told his CIA interrogators, “Soon, you will know.”


According to the previously classified May 30, 2005 Justice Department memo that was released by President Barack Obama last week, the thwarted attack -- which KSM called the “Second Wave”-- planned “ ‘to use East Asian operatives to crash a hijacked airliner into’ a building in Los Angeles.”

Radical Far Left President Obama wants to prosecute Bush officials who wrote the interrogation memos that approved of waterboarding.



UPDATE: The AP spins these facts today in an article that asks-- Unresolved debate in DOJ memos: Does torture work?
But even the AP had to admit that the "torture" worked:

Intelligence from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Abu Zubaydah, two detainees who were waterboarded, led to the discovery of a terrorist cell, the capture of other suspected terrorists and an understanding of the terrorist network, the documents say.

Posted by Gateway Pundit at <abbr class="published" title="2009-04-21T11:48:00-07:00">4/21/2009 11:48:00 AM</abbr> Comments (5

From the "comments"--

Get ready for more attacks.



Obama: "I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction."

And the Main Stream Media continues to aid and abet the Chump, Fascist, Gangster, Punk, Fraud, Liar and POS SOB Traitor that calls himself "President..."

[MarkL]

So very many side with Obama and think the Bush administration was evil and should be prosecuted. It’s absolutely insane.

Hey, there were no additional terrorist attacks, so there must not have been any plans by the terrorists to do so.

Actually, the word "insane" doesn't even begin to cover it.

Mark

[Yaelle]

At this point does it even matter if terrorists attack LA?

Nice. Thanks.