Negroponte acknowledges waterboarding in Reuters interview
Former Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte slipped up and admitted to the National Journal that the US has waterboarded detainees--not on his watch of course:
Negroponte: I get concerned that we're too retrospective and tend to look in the rearview mirror too often at things that happened four or even six years ago. We've taken steps to address the issue of interrogations, for instance, and waterboarding has not been used in years. It wasn't used when I was director of national intelligence, nor even for a few years before that. We've also taken significant steps to improve Guantanamo. People will tell you now that it is a world-class detention facility. But if you want to highlight and accent the negative, you can resurface these issues constantly to keep them alive. I would rather focus on what we need to do going forward.
Content-wise, Negroponte isn't revealing anything we don't know. Moreover, I'm not prepared to believe that waterboarding is thing of the past on Negroponte's say so.
Still, every bit of official, on-the-record acknowledgment is important.
The administration tries to shut down debate about the merits of its programs by cloaking them in spurious self-protective secrecy. Officially, these "extraordinary" programs are too secret do talk about. So, Negroponte screwed up.
When the torturers are called to account, statements like Negroponte's will help establish what people knew and when they knew it.
Moreover, I'm not prepared to believe that waterboarding is thing of the past on Negroponte's say so.
Negroponte was scum when he first floated up into view in the Iran-Conta cesspool, and he's still scum. Lying would be among the least of his offenses.
Posted by: cfrost | January 29, 2008 at 12:55 PM
I'm still waiting for the Mother of All Whistleblowers to spill everything we always knew about the Bush administration but because of Executive Privilege could never prove.
Posted by: via | January 29, 2008 at 06:30 PM
Negroponte is, of course, a psychopath, so it would be imprudent to take him at his word.
It's far more likely that he is "projecting," and I feel safe in assuming that if waterboarding was not used under his guard, then far worse torture techniques indeed were used then.
We're talking about one of the four-percenters here.
Posted by: shrimplate | January 29, 2008 at 08:29 PM
When the torturers are called to account . . .
I hope they will be. I'd lay odds they won't be, even if we get a Democratic president and congress. Hunting down the torturers will be called divisive, and a distraction while we're in the middle of the war on "terra". Besides, the people ultimately responsible for "enhanced interrogation" or whatever obscene euphemism is currently fashionable, have enough power and support that they're probably invulnerable.
Posted by: cfrost | January 29, 2008 at 10:53 PM
I'm sure everyone is shocked to learn that Mukasey won't weigh in on waterboarding. I certainly am.
http://margalis.blogspot.com/2008/01/my-crystal-ball-was-right-on-mukasey.html
No...not really. Sadly predictable.
Posted by: Margalis | January 30, 2008 at 02:14 AM
Oh, a few dozen very bad guys, or less, and let's say for argument's sake, a handful of unfortunate innocents, were tortured. Hey, you're fools if you actually do believe the nonsensical argument that torture doesn't work. And in the larger scheme of things, during the same period of time, how many people died agonizing deaths from hunger? It's just not a big deal, and it has a lot to be said for it from a utilitarian point of view.
Posted by: milo | January 30, 2008 at 02:21 AM
Torture - hey it's not cannibalism!
A rousing defense.
Posted by: Margalis | January 30, 2008 at 03:02 AM
hey! what's wrong with cannabilism?
http://web.archive.org/web/20060516115104/http://eathufu.com/
Posted by: milo | January 30, 2008 at 05:55 AM
Negroponte: we in the intelligence community stopped beating our wives years ago, we promise!
Posted by: brainthought | January 30, 2008 at 09:43 AM
What's a little torture amongst friends?
Posted by: mudkitty | January 30, 2008 at 09:56 AM
"When the torturers are called to account ..."
Ah, the optimism of youth!
Posted by: JJ | January 31, 2008 at 11:45 PM
"When the torturers are called to account ..."
Ah, the optimism of youth!
Posted by: JJ | January 31, 2008 at 11:50 PM
It's really heartening to hear that the Hilton chain will be taking over at Guantanamo... since they serve WAY better brunch than KBR (but this is gonna KILL the bologna lobby). ^..^
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