Ex-Bush Official: U.S. Tortured Prisoners to Produce False Intel that Built Case for Iraq War

democracynow.org - Since the release of Senate findings earlier this month, the assumption that the CIA's torture program's sole motive was post-9/11 self-defense has gone virtually unchallenged. There has been almost no recognition that the George W. Bush administration also tortured prisoners for a very different goal: to extract information that could tie al-Qaeda to Saddam Hussein and justify the invasion of Iraq. While the Senate report and other critics say torture produced false information, that could have been one of the program's goals. We are joined by retired Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, who served as chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell from 2002 to 2005. Wilkerson helped prepare Powell's infamous February 2003 speech to the United Nations wrongly accusing Iraq of possessing weapons of mass destruction. The claim was partially based on statements extracted from a prisoner tortured by Egypt on the CIA's behalf, who later recanted his claim. Wilkerson says that beginning in the spring of 2002 -- one year before the Iraq War and just months after the 9/11 attacks, the torture program's interrogations "were as much aimed at contacts between al-Qaeda and Baghdad and corroboration thereof as they were trying to ferret out whether there was another attack coming like 9/11. That was stunning to me to find that was probably 50 percent of the impetus."
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[@achange7930]

No indictment for those that torture is lawlessness No indictment for those police that kill innocents is lawlessness No indictment for those that materially aid the enemy is lawlessness No indictment for those that lie to congress is lawlessness Lawlessness is accepted, encouraged and applauded

[@spudjd]

You can add "No indictment for those that nearly brought down the US (and World) economy through mortgage backed securities fraud." to the list.

[@achange7930]

You are absolutely correct, thank you. Billions stolen and zero indictments. While millions of people were and continue to be hurt.

[@NathainArdoin]

i watched it this morning .. keep up the great reporting and interviewing real ppl... God Bless.. and happy holidays

[@bozolazic]

"The worst attack on the continental United States in it's history." -Barry Obama Interesting acrobatics of linguistic/mental contortions in a straight jacket. -Restless Natives

[@briansimons9472]

When the "bad guys" do it, it's evil. When we do it, it's good.

[@kevingumfory]

"We" didn't do shit.

[@kevingumfory]

Duh. You just now know it ? I mean .... cmon. You didn't know that ?

[@salamisfamagusta2918]

We get what we deserve when we do nothing to help to put these monsters behind bars and let them rod there for the rest of their lives

[@suziegreer7975]

DONT BRING EL QUIDER INTO THIS

[@kevingumfory]

8 yrs old. 28 comments.

[@allancove4483]

Ever notice in either a 4 year or an 8 year term as president, they ALWAYS seem to age 100 years with all that gray hair?

[@freelandsm1]

Dick Cheney is the worst liar ever!

[@dukanmchina6614]

ameri kkk a