ABC News: CIA Interrogations Worked

Hot Air has the video of the Brian Ross appearance on the O'Reilly Factor tonite. It's a bombshell.

For all the talk about how harsh interrogations aren't supposed to reveal accurate information, it certainly appears that the CIA techniques used on Khalid Sheikh Mohammad and Ramzi Binalshibh were quite effective. Allah notes:

Not only did they break Khaled Sheikh Mohammed; not only was the information he gave them valuable; not only did it save lives; but Ross’s sources include people within the CIA who are opposed to the practices.

Now, this wont end the debate on the techniques used, or the ethics or morality surrounding harsh interrogation techniques that fall short of torture. I hazard that some will even question the timing of this information coming to light just as Congress takes up the issue in a series of votes on what constitutes torture and what techniques can pass legal muster. I also have no doubt that there will be those who think that whatever techniques were used by the CIA constitutes torture, regardless of whether it rises to the level of torture or not. Some will argue that it is not worth the loss of moral and ethical standards even it means American lives are saved.

For quite some time, it was considered conventional wisdom that harsh interrogations were not successful at providing accurate information. But it is important to know that CIA interrogators can gather accurate and timely information from these individuals using techniques that fall short of being torture.

Wizbang and Mary Katherine Ham have more, including that more than a dozen terror plots were thwarted using information gathered using these interrogation methods.