Torture memos

[Undertoad]

Why so many times? He was not telling them what they wanted to hear.

Nope.... because he was telling them good stuff. The rest of that same memo tells us that at least two out of the three waterboardings led to legitimate, and very important information, possibly preventing a "Second Wave" after 9/11.

Originally Posted by the memo

With these caveats, we turn to specific examples that you have provides us. You have informed us that the interrogation of KSM -- once enhanced techniques were employed -- let to the discovery of a KSM plot, the "second wave," "to use East Asian operatives to crash a hijacked airliner into" a building in Los Angeles. You have informed us that information obtained from KSM also led to the capture of Riduan bin Isomuddin, better known as Hambali, and the discovery of the Guraba cell, a 17-member Jemaah Islamiyah cell tasked with executing the "Second Wave". More specifically, we understand that KSM admitted that he had tasked Majid Khan with delivering a large sum of money to an al Qaeda associate. Khan subsequently identifed the associate (Zubair), who was then captured. Zubair, in turn, provided information that led to the arrest of Hambali. The information from these captures allowed CIA interrogators to pose more specific questions to KSM, which led the CIA to Hambali's brother, al-Hadi. Using information from multiple sources, al-Hadi was captured, and he subsequently identified the Guraba cell. With the aid of this information, interrogations of Hambali confirmed much of what was learned from KSM.
...
More generally, the CIA has informed us that, since March 2002, the intelligence derived from CIA detainees has resulted in more than 6,000 intelligence reports, and, in 2004, accounted for approximately half of CTC's reportnig on al Qaeda... You have informed us that the substantial majority of this intelligence has come from detainees subjected to enhanced interrogation techniques. In addition, the CIA advises us that the program has been virtually indispensable to the task of deriving actionable intelligence from other forms of collection.