Reply #1: I'd rec this 1000 times if I could...

[Subdivisions]

Detainee says he lied to CIA in harsh interrogations

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, told the U.S. military that he made up stories, documents show. The news could intensify the debate over interrogations.


Reporting from Washington -- Self-proclaimed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed told U.S. military officials that he had lied to the CIA after being abused, according to documents made public Monday. The claim is likely to intensify the debate over whether harsh interrogation techniques generated accurate information.

Mohammed made the assertion during hearings at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where he was transferred in 2006after being held at secret CIA sites since his capture in 2003.

"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.

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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-cia-detainee16-2009jun16,0,316330.story



ETA: "If you are arguing that the Official Version is conclusively proven with solid evidence then you have nothing to fear from further disclosure and something valuable to gain. That valuable something is the concession of the principled (and which many on your side pretend not to notice, principal) opposition when the answers to the 9/11 Widows' "Unanswered Questions" are finally delivered and shown to confirm the Official Hypothesis. (Or is it the case you do not wish to see an end to the contention? It is largely within your power to end the dispute.) On the other hand, if you are arguing that the Official Story is merely a plausible hypothesis and not conclusively proven, then rigor, not to mention fairness, demands you fight for full disclosure. What are you afraid of? You might be proven to have been right all along..."

I will gladly and humbly concede if a new investigation (http://www.nyccan.org/">NYCCAN has the required signatures on their petition to compel a ballot referendum, superceding a city council vote) finds that the OCT, even if altered by the new investigation, is found to be valid. The new investigation should seek to confirm the ~130 points already addressed by the 911 Commission and it must answer the remaining ~270 http://www.nyccan.org/FamilySteeringCommitteeReviewOfReport.pdf">Family Steering Committee questions left unanswered by the Commission as well as any other questions that come up as a result of the proceedings.

In fact, I welcome being wrong on this issue. What are you afraid of, indeed.