Former Interrogator Rebukes Cheney for Torture Speech

Dandelion Salad

bravenewfilms
May 25, 2009

Dick Cheney says that torturing detainees has saved American lives. That claim is patently false. Cheney’s torture policy was directly responsible for the deaths of hundreds if not thousands of American servicemen and women.

Matthew Alexander was the senior military interrogator for the task force that tracked down Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq and, at the time, a higher priority target than Osama bin Laden. Mr. Alexander has personally conducted hundreds of interrogations and supervised over a thousand of them.

“Torture does not save lives. Torture costs us lives,” Mr. Alexander said in an exclusive interview at Brave New Studios. “And the reason why is that our enemies use it, number one, as a recruiting tool…These same foreign fighters who came to Iraq to fight because of torture and abuse….literally cost us hundreds if not thousands of American lives.”

Sound off at http://bravenewfoundation.org

see

Tortured Logic, Why ‘It Doesn’t Work’ Doesn’t Work by Steven Jonas, MD, MPH

Guantánamo And The Many Failures Of US Politicians by Andy Worthington

Fmr. V.P. Cheney discusses terrorism + Cheney: Support for Israel Feeds Terrorism (updated)

Torture? It probably killed more Americans than 9/11

The Daily Show: Matthew Alexander – How to Interrogate without torture