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Pittsburgh Post-GazetteMcLEAN, Va. -- CIA Director Michael V. Hayden yesterday applauded the debate over the agency's past use of harsh interrogation techniques, but stressed that those methods -- including the use of waterboarding -- had produced valuable results.
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Still, Mr. Hayden contended that America is safer because the interrogations -- conducted at the behest of the Bush administration, with the blessing of Justice Department legal counsel -- produced results.
"You can't say it didn't work. These tactics worked," Mr. Hayden said. "Was it worth it? Half of our knowledge of al-Qaida … came from CIA detainees.
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And, he said, Osama bin Laden has not been brought to justice for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. "We have not killed or captured him. That is a disappointment, rather than a regret," he said.
His greatest pride, he said, is that the agency is largely responsible for al-Qaida's failure to launch a major terrorist strike on U.S. soil since Sept. 11.
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