Former British Government Minister Disputes Bush’s Claim That Waterboarding Foiled Terror Plots...

[ProSense]

Former British Government Minister Disputes Bush’s Claim That Waterboarding Foiled Terror Plots In Britain

Promoting his new book during an interview with NBC host Matt Lauer that aired on the network last night, President Bush defended his decision to authorize the waterboarding of terror suspects during his administration. Bush said it “saved lives” and was legal “(b)ecause the lawyer said it was legal.” “I am not a lawyer,” he added, “but you got to trust the judgment of people around you.” The Times of London reports that Bush reveals in his book that waterboarding “helped break up plots to attack American military and diplomatic facilities abroad, Heathrow Airport and Canary Wharf in London, and multiple targets in the United States.”

However, the Times also reports today that British officials dispute the assertion that waterboarding saved lives:

A former British government minister has cast doubt on President Bush’s claims that torturing terror suspects prevented terror attacks on London as Number 10 disputed his assertion that waterboarding does not constitute torture.

Kim Howells said he was not convinced that plots to attack Heathrow and Canary Wharf were foiled because of information obtained by waterboarding Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah and one other high profile suspect in Guantánamo Bay. <...> “I don’t think there was any doubt there were real plots,” Mr Howells told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme. “Where I doubt what President Bush has said is that this, what we regard as torture, actually produced information which was instrumental in preventing those plots coming to fruition. I’m not convinced of that.”

At the same time Downing Street said the Government still considered waterboarding — or simulated drowning — to be torture. “It comes under that definition in our view,” a spokesman said.

Although Bush claims that waterboarding is legal, he seems a bit uncomfortable saying that it can be used on Americans. When Lauer asked if it is legal for foreigners to waterboard Americans, both in and out of military uniform, Bush refused to answer:

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[jenmito]

1. He also lied about having no warning about 9/11. Did you see Maddow's show last night?

MATT LAUER, NBC CORRESPONDENT: Based on some of the intelligence briefings you had gotten, did you not have any idea who was behind this?

GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER UNITED STATES PRESIDENT: I mean, we all surmised it was al-Qaeda. But before you make a decision to go find somebody, you want to make sure the intelligence is as good as it can get. In the next couple of days, we heard all kinds of chatter and celebratory talk and so it became clear it was al-Qaeda.

LAUER: Did you ever ask yourself the question, “What more could I have done to prevent this from happening?”

BUSH: Well, we just didn‘t have any solid intelligence that gave us a warning on this.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40090265/ns/msnbc_tv-rachel_maddow_show/

Then Rachel showed the infamous video of Condoleezza Rice being asked if she recalled the title of an Aug. 2001 PDB she and Bush received, and she replied, “I believe the title was ‘Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States.‘”