Republicans say torture led U.S. to bin Laden. Facts say otherwise.

[Matariki]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/05/02/972387/-Republicans-say-torture-led-US-to-bin-Laden-Facts-say-otherwise

You could see this one coming a mile off. Here's Dick Cheney on Fox News: "I would assume the enhanced interrogation program we put in place produced some of the results that led to bin Laden's ultimate capture.... We need to keep in place those policies that made it possible for us to succeed in this case."

Here's an AP story reiterating the same.
Current and former U.S. officials say that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, provided the nom de guerre of one of bin Laden's most trusted aides. The CIA got similar information from Mohammed's successor, Abu Faraj al-Libi. Both were subjected to harsh interrogation tactics inside CIA prisons in Poland and Romania.
Or how about the Heritage Foundation screaming "Detainee Interrogations: Key to Killing Osama bin Laden": "This lead was developed during the Bush Administration, most likely from al-Qaeda associates picked up and transferred to Guantanamo and subject to interrogations that critics have repeatedly deemed to be pointless in terms of intelligence value. Whether these detainees remain at Guantanamo is an open question." See, if Bush and Cheney hadn't been man enough to torture people, we never would have found bin Laden. Nine years later.

There's plenty more where that came from:

more

[Matariki]

1. We are living in a seriously messed up time in US history

when we are actually arguing the MERITS of torture.

[Drale]

2. Almost right away didn't the fact that

The CIA got the info from a contact inside Pakistan come out? Just more Republican bullshit.

[Paradoxical]

3. It doesn't matter even if they did get info from torture.

Torture is wrong. Whether or not it's productive is beside the point.

[nichomachus]

4. The party of "morality" is arguing that the end justifies the means

They're arguing that there are no things that are immoral no matter how much good they bring about.

They are seriously fucked up.

[Matariki]

5. PRECISELY.

It's hard to believe this nation is even having such a debate. It makes me weep.

[LiberalAndProud]

6. I have to wonder why the RepubliCons are reviving this bit of controversy.

It isn't a winning issue for them. It really isn't. So I'm left thinking that they must have a specific piece of intelligence in mind when they say this.

Which leads me to wonder, what took so long then?