Intelligence Genius Who Oversaw Raid on bin Ladin Apparently Doesn't Know How He Did It

That must be the left's belief about Leon Panetta, who on one hand is being praised (and some praise is due him) for calling it right on bin Ladin, but, on the other hand, is being disbelieved as to whether waterboarded-information helped lead to the death of bin Ladin.

On one hand he's a genius and shows that all those Republican numbskulls who preceded him are just stupid dumbasses; on the other hand, he doesn't know the basic facts of the intelligence puzzle he put together.

Brian Williams: I’d like to ask you about the sourcing on the intel that ultimately led to this successful attack. Can you confirm that it was as a result of waterboarding that we learned what we needed to learn to go after Bin Laden?

Leon Panetta: You know, Brian, in the intelligence business you work from a lot of sources of information, and that was true here. We had a multiple series of sources that provided information with regards to this situation. Clearly, some of it came from detainees and the interrogation of detainees, but we also had information from other sources as well. So it’s a little difficult to say it was due just to one source of information that we got.

Williams: Turned around the other way, are you denying that waterboarding was in part among the tactics used to extract the intelligence that led to this successful mission?

Panetta: No, I think some of the detainees clearly were — you know, they used these enhanced interrogation techniques against some of these detainees. But I’m also saying that the debate about whether we would have gotten the same information through other approaches I think is always going to be an open question.

Williams: So, final point, one final time: enhanced interrogation techniques, which has always been kind of a handy euphemism in these post-9/11 years, that includes waterboarding.

Panetta: That’s correct.

Video at the link; or should I say, doctored and misleadingly edited video at the link.

Only a liar or idiot can continue maintaining that no waterboarding produced useful -- critical -- information in light of that.

And speaking of Lawrence O'Donnell.

If you want some comedy that's not inadvertent and sad, try Frank J.'s reassurance that Osama was shot in the face in full compliance with Islamic tradition, or Iowahawk dryly noting that patriotism and love of country is no longer something to be ashamed of. At least for a couple of weeks.

And Speaking of Liars and Fools: Jay Carney in his press conference is claiming that no single piece of information was critical, and futhermore "we can never know" where information came from -- to avoid admitting the information came from waterboarding.

This last point is particularly a lie. It's not that "we can never know" -- it's that "they will never tell."

That's an entirely different matter. Obama simply refuses to acknowledge what his CIA head confirms, because his political position is wrong.

"I will never tell the truth" is not, in fact, the same as "we can never know the truth." Carney's insistence that they are the same notwithstanding.

posted by Ace at 03:48 PM

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