Matt Lauer: Can KSM's "Tortured" Testimony be Trusted?

Current CNN Poll:

As far as I know, this is the first MSM news source to question the confession. Let's see if any other MSM commentators pick up on this. Of course, KSM may be dead. And he might have been a patsy and an asset. Or he might never have confessed, since we have only the Pentagon's word for it, and KSM's statements supposedly came through a military spokesman. But Lauer's questions about torture will hopefully be the first crack in this Pentagon psyops campaign.

Update: Reprehensor points out that KSM says he made false statements due to torture, and that his witness requests were not granted. And Prisonplanet has an absolutely hilarious take on the KSM confession story.

Raw Story's got the goods

On Thursday, NBC's Today show explored whether the confessions of alleged 9/11 'mastermind' Khalid Sheikh Mohammed can be trusted since he claimed to have been tortured after being detained.

"Let's talk about the issue of torture," NBC's Matt Lauer said. "He says in his statement that he didn't make this statement under duress or pressure, but he does also say that he was tortured by the CIA after his capture."

Last September, CIA sources told ABC News that the harshest technique they were authorized to use on "high-value detainees, such as the 9/11 attacks architect Khalid Sheikh Mohamed...was called 'water boarding,' in which a prisoner's face was covered with cellophane, and water is poured over it (pictured above) -- meant to trigger an unbearable gag reflex."

Brian Ross and Richard Esposito reported for ABC's The Blotter that "new rules issued by the Pentagon today prohibit water boarding, though there was no clear acknowledgement that it was permitted previously," and that "CIA officers told ABC News that 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed lasted the longest under water boarding, two and a half minutes, before beginning to talk."

Lauer notes that "this is a subject" that he discussed during a September of 2006 interview with President Bush, in which he asked, "I mean, if, in fact, there was water boarding used with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and for the viewers, that’s basically when you strap someone to a board and you make them feel as if they’re going to drown by putting them underwater, if that was legal and within the law, why couldn’t you do it at Guantanamo? Why did you have to go to a secret location around the world?"

"I’m not going to talk about techniques," Bush responded to Lauer in September. "And, I’m not going explain to the enemy what we’re doing. All I’m telling you is that you’ve asked me whether or not we’re doing things to protect the American people, and I want the American people to know we are doing so."

Lauer wondered "how credible" was "the laundry list of targets" named by Mohammed if they were named after he had been water boarded: "Won't you kind of spew out all kinds of locations just to make it stop?"

NBC News terrorism analyst Roger Cressey said that's always a concern when "rather invasive techniques" are used.

The Raw Story article also contains a video clip from NBC's Today Show.

KSM was THE source for most of the claims in the 9/11 OCT report

so this is really not a new issue--the 9/11 commission report is basically a summary of his "testimony". Now it's being brought out again in the form of a military tribunal show trial. Except that they probably won't show us much at all...

sigh, what a joke this all is...

____

Real Truther a.k.a. Verdadero Verdadero

WTCdemolition.com - Harvard Task Force

 

911 Truth Surge

I think it is all a distraction from the snowball growing and presently about to roll over Gonzalez, or, it is related to this brand new 911 Truth Video which slams the Bush Administration hard.

Truth Surge
http://www.freedomtown.org/Site/Freedomtown%20Videos.html

CNN Poll as of 7:40pm EDT

Alex Jones

Torture and False statements.

The new way. True, false, no matter. Here's your script. Say it.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&add...

Calling on Guantanamo military personnel...

We need eyewitness reports on what actually happened in that court room.

The fellow probably spoke in Urdu, since he is Pakistani, and in that case (or if it were Pushtu or Dari or whatever) he'd need a translator.

I would not be too surprised if military personnel at Gitmo might visit this blog, and read this story along with these very comments.

If anyone reading this knows the translator, please get a report on what actually happened. Write it up. Submit it here. Your identity will be safe, since most of us use userids anyway.

does anyone have the link to

does anyone have the link to that CNN poll?

It's still up on cnn's homepage.

http://www.cnn.com/POLLSERVER

too little too late

Way to go Lauer. Where were you and every OTHER member of the mainstream media during every major world-changing event for the last six years?

given that we know CNN to be, um, not so trustworthy

What should we make of this seeming admission that this is not exactly credible? Are they preparing the ground for more skepticism (having given up on the coverup?) Are they floating a trial balloon for the powers that be to see what they're up against?

____

Real Truther a.k.a. Verdadero Verdadero

WTCdemolition.com - Harvard Task Force

 

CNN Polls seem to be usually honest...

The one that always seem dodgy are the AOL Polls (aka Diebold Internet Voting Corp)

That's my observation anyway.

Best wishes

Something just struck me

Something just struck me about the wording of the poll that I didn't notice before. The question is "Do you believe all of the claims ALLEGEDLY made by accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed?" Allegedly? CNN seems to imply that the whole confession may be fake. Very interesting.

Confessions that spring from

Confessions that spring from illegal detentions in prison facilities that are known to be hotbeds of torture should be dismissed on those grounds alone.

disinfo

I'm glad to see people aren't buying Muhammed's "confession". I guess it just goes to show how desperate the Bushies have become that they would release such an obvious piece of disinfo...

yeah, what else have they got at this point?

____

Real Truther a.k.a. Verdadero Verdadero

WTCdemolition.com - Harvard Task Force

 

KSM arresting mystery

This is a webarchive article the Sunday Times of London don't want you to know:

Was Khalid arrested where the FBI said he was?
LONDON
Inside the villa in Rawalpindi where police say they arrested Khalid, an old woman sobbed gently, shoulders shaking, as she gathered a black shawl around her head and across her mouth and nose so that only her eyes were visible, writes Christina Lamb.

...
The Qadoos family point to the photo of Khalid released by Pakistani authorities, purportedly showing him under arrest in the house, looking fat and dazed in a baggy vest as he stands against a wall of peeling paint. A thorough search of the house shows there is no such wall.

Courtesy The Sunday Times.

http://web.archive.org/web/20030409074219/http://www.nation.com.pk/daily...

The direct links are dead or new written, the webarchiv of the Sunday Times link is dead thanks to a robtot.txt