2)Transcript, Leon Panetta speaking to Brian Williams, 5/3/11...
NBC NEWS - NIGHTLY NEWS - 5/3/11
INTERVIEW WITH LEON PANETTA
...
BRIAN WILLIAMS:
10:47:31:00 I'd like to ask you about the sourcing on the intel that ultimately led to this successful attack. Can you confirm that it was-- as a result of water boarding that we learned what we needed to learn to go after Bin Laden?
LEON PANETTA:
10:47:53:00 It-- you know, Brian, in the intelligence business you work from a lot of sources of information and that was true here. We had a multiple source-- a multiple series of-- sources that provided information with regards to the situation. Clearly some of it came from detainees and the interrogation of detainees but we also had information from other sources as well.
10:48:18:00 From Sigent intelligence, from imagery, from other sources that we had-- assets on the ground. And it was a combination of all of that that ultimately we were able to put together that led us to that compound. So-- it's-- it's a little difficult to say it was due just to one source of information that we got.
BRIAN WILLIAMS:
10:48:36:00 Turned around the other way, are you denying that water boarding was, in part, among the tactics used to extract the intelligence that led to this successful mission?
LEON PANETTA:
10:48:48:00 No, I think some of the detainees clearly were, you know, they used these enhanced interrogation techniques against some of these detainees. But I'm also saying that, you know, the debate about whether-- whether we would have gotten the same information through other approaches I think is always gonna be an open question.
BRIAN WILLIAMS:
10:49:07:00 So finer point, one final time, enhanced interrogation techniques, which has always been kind of a handy euphemism in these post-9/11 years. That-
LEON PANETTA:
10:49:16:00 Right.
BRIAN WILLIAMS:
10:49:17:00 --in-- includes water boarding?
LEON PANETTA:
10:49:20:00 That's correct.
3) Thanks!, Leon! Glad to hear you admit it. And after all the BOOOOOOOOSH! trashing that went on for years, turns out he's been right all along.
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