Questioning Waterboarding

Hello, I’m Charlotte Bellis, and you’re watching Newsy.com.

Charges of U.S.-led torture have led to a political “blame game”… leading many to question—“Did it even work?”

Here’s ABC, with the 2007 interview of a former CIA agent who says waterboarding is illegal, but necessary:

“Al Qaeda is not a WW2 German POW. It’s a different world. These guys hate us. You’re not gonna convince them because you’re a nice guy, they’re gonna confess and give you their operations.”  (ABC)

Blog Indy Mind and The Examiner bring us two opposing perspectives:

First, Indy Mind writes: “Ultimately the water-boarding… led to multiple foiled plots… disrupting and ultimately stopping [terrorists’] Iraqi operations and many more.”

The Examiner responds with this perspective: “The error inherent in this line of thinking is the assumption that, through torture, the interrogator can extract reliable and accurate intelligence. History and a consideration of human behavior would appear to refute this assumption.”

FOX News brings us former Vice President Dick Cheney, who says waterboarding worked:

“There are reports that show specifically what we gained as a result of this activity. They have not been declassified. I formally ask that they be declassified.” -Dick Cheney (FOX News)

Time magazine retorts: “Just because there were no attacks after 9/11 doesn't necessarily mean that the interrogations deserve the credit.”

While Canada’s Chronicle Herald agrees: “The truth is, it’s not at all clear whether waterboarding did shake critical information … that wouldn’t otherwise have been obtained.”

Stay with Newsy.com as we continue to follow this developing story, and please check out our sources.