Former CIA director George Tenet on Sunday heatedly denied allegations that US interrogators have used torture to extract information from prisoners in the so-called US "war on terror."
"The image that's been portrayed is, we sat around the campfire and said, `Oh, boy, now we go get to torture people.' Well, we don't torture people. Let me say that again to you. We don't torture people. Okay?" Tenet told the CBS news show 60 Minutes.
"Come on, George," replied interviewer Scott Pelley, who questioned Tenet repeatedly during a tense exchange about accusations of torture, many from terror suspects held at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
"We don't torture people," Tenet answered.
"Waterboarding?" Pelley asked, referring to a process whereby water is continually poured over a detainee's face and mouth, causing a sharp gag reflex.
"We do not -- I don't talk about techniques," Tenet replied.
"It's torture," Pelley said.
"And we don't torture people," Tenet insisted. "I want you to listen to me. The context is it's post-9/11. I've got reports of nuclear weapons in New York City, apartment buildings that are gonna be blown up, planes that are gonna fly into airports all over again."
"Plot lines that I don't know -- I don't know what's going on inside the United States. And I'm struggling to find out where the next disaster is going to occur," Tenet added. "Everybody forgets one central context of what we lived through. The palpable fear that we felt on the basis of the fact that there was so much we did not know."
Tenet, who led the Central Intelligence Agency in the runup to and after the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, released a book yesterday, At the Center of the Storm, in which he says here was no real debate in the White House about the imminent threat posed by former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's regime.
In it, Tenet alleges, without using her name, that then-national security adviser Condoleezza Rice did not submit ideas from then-defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney to the same level of scrutiny as she did the CIA and State Department.
Tenet resigned from office in July 2004 under a cloud of controversy about a series of US intelligence setbacks.
In a market in the Chadian capital, N’Djamena, customers flock to Ache Moussa’s stall to have their long plaits smeared with a special paste in an age-old ritual. Each strand of hair, from the root to the end, is slathered in a traditional mixture of cherry seeds, cloves and chebe seeds, the most important ingredient of all. Users say the recipe makes their hair grow longer and more lustrous. Local and natural hair products are gaining popularity across Africa as people turn away from commercial cosmetics. Moussa applies the mixture and shapes the client’s locks into a gourone — a traditional hairstyle consisting of
‘ONE FELL SWOOP’: Overturning a landmark ruling that said judges should defer to experts would ‘cause a massive shock to the legal system,’ a dissenting opinion said Prosecutors overstepped in charging Jan. 6, 2021, rioters with obstruction for trying to prevent certification of the 2020 presidential election, the US Supreme Court said on Friday, throwing hundreds of cases into doubt, while another controversial ruling struck down 40 years of legal precedent on federal agencies’ ability to regulate critical issues. The matter was brought to the court through an appeal by former police officer Joseph Fischer, a supporter of former US president Donald Trump who entered the Capitol with hundreds of others in 2021. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts said prosecutors’ interpretation of the law would “criminalize
The US yesterday wrapped up its first multidomain exercise with Japan and South Korea in the East China Sea, a step forward in Washington’s efforts to enhance and lock in its security partnerships with key Asian allies in the face of growing threats from North Korea and China. The three-day Freedom Edge increased the sophistication of previous exercises with simultaneous air and naval drills geared toward improving joint ballistic-missile defense, anti-submarine warfare, surveillance and other skills and capabilities. The exercise, which is expected to expand in years to come, was also intended to improve the countries’ abilities to share missile warnings —
‘APOCALYPTIC : An UN official said that Lebanon was ‘the flashpoint beyond all flashpoints,’ and a conflict that involved it would draw in Syria and other nations Israel on Wednesday said that it does not want war in Lebanon, but could send its neighbor “back to the Stone Age.” The border between the two countries has seen daily exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants since the attack on Israel by Hezbollah’s ally Hamas on Oct. 7 last year, which triggered the war in Gaza. Fears those exchanges could escalate have grown in the past few weeks as cross-border attacks intensified and after Israel revealed it had approved plans for a Lebanon offensive, prompting new threats from Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah. Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant said