Crossposted from Flopping Aces

As a booknote to Scott’s piece below and to provide the video for Mike’s post here is the presser on Obama’s decision to finally listen to calmer heads and not release the detainee photos:

And while I don’t agree with Allah at Hot Air often, I am completely on board here:

The meme of the hour, per Republican strategists and Bill Clinton, is that Dick Cheney needs to quiet down about torture and go away now. Really? I find it hard to believe The One would have backed off on the photos if not for Cheney’s media campaign to convince people that torture works and that Obama’s being cavalier about counterterrorism. Granted, he’s personally unpopular with most of the public, but the fact remains that he’s almost uniquely well informed to comment on this subject, which can’t help but be persuasive. If he’s got a liberal as staunch as Richard Cohen questioning himself, what’s he doing to the rest of the country?

And I for one thank Mr. Cheney.

Also:

“Torture” Worked

In looking at the tons of declassified documents from the CIA, two things were noticed.

First,
TRADITIONAL FORMS OF INTERROGATION WERE TRIED FIRST.
Part of the criteria put forth in determining who, when, how, and why Enhanced Interrogation Techniques would be used was the REQUIREMENT that traditional interrogation methods had to be tried first, and had to have failed. Only after that had been determined (according to the declassified documents, could the process for getting authorization to use EIJ’s be pursued. If you’re lazy, just look at the table of contents and you’ll see that this was not a case of, “Woo hoo! We got so-and-so! Get a bucket!”
http://tinyurl.com/dal9ty
or
http://media.mcclatchydc.com/smedia/2009/04/24/17/IG_s_2004_report__as_released_to_ACLU.source.prod_affiliate.91.pdf

Second,
IT WORKED; ACTIONABLE INTELLIGENCE WAS GAINED
from using EIJs.
7/15/04
http://www.politico.com/static/PPM119_090507_eitbriefings.html
(Gosh, looks like they got something from the interrogations/”torture” after all. )

Supposedly…
September 11, 2002: Ramzi bin al-Shibh captured, purportedly as a result of intelligence gained through “torturing” Abu Zubaydah.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/17/AR2007121702151.html?hpid=topnews

Now, was it worth it? We don’t know because the Obama Admin (despite claiming that it wasn’t) refuses to release the documents from this date and others (as requested by VP Cheney, the Washington Post, and the New York Times) which allegedly show that yes…attacks were thwarted by the use of Enhanced Interrogation Techniques.

What are Obama and the Democrats hiding?