Former Military Interrogator Claims Torture Slowed Osama Bin Laden Search

May 04, 2011 from Democracy Now!

The death of Osama bin Laden has sparked a debate over whether torture of suspects held at places such as the U.S. military base at Guantánamo Bay helped track down and kill the Al Qaeda leader. Some claim the mission vindicated controversial Bush policies on harsh interrogation techniques. Democracy Now! interviews Matthew Alexander, a former senior military interrogator in Iraq. "I believe wholeheartedly [Bush-era] techniques slowed us down on the road toward Osama bin Laden and numerous other members of Al Qaeda," Alexander says. "I am convinced we would have found him a lot earlier had we not resorted to torture and abuse."

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Osama bin Laden

Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of al-Qaeda, the militant Islamist organization that claimed responsibility for the September 11 attacks on the United States, along with numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets. He was a ... Explore this topic

Torture

Torture is the practice or act of deliberately inflicting severe physical pain and possibly injury on a person, though psychological and animal torture also exist. Torture has been carried out or sanctioned by individuals, groups and states throughout history from ancient time... Explore this topic

Iraq

Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in Western Asia encompassing the Mesopotamian alluvial plain, the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, and the eastern part of the Syrian Desert. Iraq borders Syria to the northwest, Turkey to the north, Iran to the... Explore this topic

September 11, 2001 attacks

The September 11 attacks were a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks launched by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda upon the United States in New York City and the Washington, D.C. area on September 11, 2001. Four passenger airliners were hijacked by 19 al-Qaeda terr... Explore this topic

Al-Qaeda

Al-Qaida ist ein loses, weltweit operierendes Terrornetzwerk meist sunnitischer dschihadistischer Organisationen, das seit 1993 zahlreiche Terroranschläge in mehreren Staaten verübt hat, und mit zahlreichen weltpolitischen Ereignissen im Zusammenhang steht. Viele der von dem N... Explore this topic

Guantánamo Bay

Guantánamo Bay is a bay located in Guantánamo Province at the southeastern end of Cuba. It is the largest harbor on the south side of the island and it is surrounded by steep hills which create an enclave that is cut off from its immediate hinterland. The United States assumed... Explore this topic

Enhanced interrogation techniques

Enhanced interrogation techniques or alternative set of procedures are phrases that describe a George W. Bush administration authorisation and use of certain severe interrogation methods including hypothermia, stress positions and waterboarding. These techniques were used by t... Explore this topic

Presidency of George W. Bush

The presidency of George W. Bush began on January 20, 2001, when he was inaugurated as the 43rd President of the United States of America. The oldest son of former president George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush was elected president in the 2000 general election, and became the se... Explore this topic

Death of Osama bin Laden

On May 1, 2011, U.S. President Barack Obama authorized a raid on bin Laden's suspected location in Abbottabad, Pakistan. The operation was successfully carried out by United States Navy SEALs, with intelligence support from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).[2][7] During t... Explore this topic

Democracy Now!

Democracy Now! is a United States daily progressive, nonprofit, independently syndicated program of news, analysis, and opinion, aired by more than 1000 radio, television, satellite and cable TV networks in North America. The award-winning one hour War and Peace Report is host... Explore this topic

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