Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, yes, the guy who was waterboarded over a hundred times, now claims he made up what he told interrogators after being waterboarded. This would seemingly put a huge dent in the right-wing and GOP’s argument that torture is effective at obtaining vital information relevant to national security. But not quite.
According to Mohammed:
“I make up stories,” Mohammed said, describing in broken English an interrogation probably administered by the CIA concerning the whereabouts of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. “Where is he? I don’t know. Then, he torture me,” Mohammed said of his interrogator. “Then I said, ‘Yes, he is in this area.’ ”
Mohammed also appeared to say that he had fingered people he did not know as being Al Qaeda members in order to avoid abusive treatment. Although there is no way to corroborate his statements, Mohammed is one of the militants whom the CIA repeatedly subjected to the simulated-drowning technique known as waterboarding.
The ACLU is pointing out these new statements by Mohammed in order to try to weaken the case to keep the practice known as waterboarding. But something tells me Mohammed is more cunning that people are giving him credit for (he DID supposedly mastermind the September 11 attacks).
Mohammed has read the news, he knows the current debate going on between those praising the efficacy of waterboarding and other “enhanced interrogation techniques” and those who claim they are immoral and ineffective. The latter is correct, in my opinion, mainly because there is evidence besides the word of an alleged terrorist that torture indeed does not work. In this case, however, Mohammed is just being sly.
“This is what I understand he told me: You are not American and you are not on American soil,” Mohammed said in the military hearing. “So you cannot ask about the Constitution.”
Anyone following the torture debate knows that the main card the pro- camp is playing is that it works. If that card were taken away, there would be very litte left for them to use to persuade an overall anti-torture public sentiment. Mohammed knows this, so he is trying to snatch the card away from them.
Mohammed has a lot to gain if the debate ends up relieving him of being waterboarded or sleep deprived on a daily basis. He can help undercut the Dick Cheneys and the Limbaughs. He is doing just that.
The debate needs to be had, but his input is biased and lacks authority. He is just looking out for his own neck, not American integrity.
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