One of Thiessen's big "points" was his citing of CIA interrogators who claimed Abu Zubaydah cracked quickly, and thanked his interrogators afterwards (that section starts at about 4:50 of the first video).
In a development that should shock no one, Thiessen's point turns out to be nonsense:
On the next-to-last page of a new memoir, The Reluctant Spy: My Secret Life in the CIA's War on Terror (written with Michael Ruby), Kiriakou now rather off handedly admits that he basically made it all up.
"What I told Brian Ross in late 2007 was wrong on a couple counts," he writes. "I suggested that Abu Zubaydah had lasted only thirty or thirty-five seconds during his waterboarding before he begged his interrogators to stop; after that, I said he opened up and gave the agency actionable intelligence."
But never mind, he says now.
"I wasn't there when the interrogation took place; instead, I relied on what I'd heard and read inside the agency at the time."
So... when do you think Thiessen is going to apologize to Amanpour? For that matter, when are all these right-wing blogs who proudly proclaimed that Thiessen had "destroyed", "ripped" and (my fave) "bitch-slapped" Amanpour going to post retractions for their readers?
Oh, wait, that would require morality and honesty on their part. Never mind.
No comments:
Post a Comment