I used to wonder what had happened to the clear-minded hero of Vietnam, John McCain, captured when his plane was shot down over North Vietnam during his 23rd combat mission, wounded, severely beaten and mercilessly tortured. He endured it for five and one-half years as a prisoner (two of them in solitary confinement) and came home, speaking firmly against the the barbarity of his captors.
He was most justifiably elected as a US Representative to Congress and eventually as a US Senator.
Then came the opportunity of a lifetime, to be a candidate for the office of President of the United States, supported by the party then in power.
Somewhere in there, he, or his soul, or his conscience . . . maybe all three . . . things essential to the courage and dignity of this good man and genuine hero, got lost or suffocated. He actually said it was OK to torture captives. He found nothing un-American, illegal or immoral about it. He even voted in February 2008 against a bill containing a ban on waterboarding.
Perhaps the best thing that ever happened to John McCain was that he lost that election. It took a while for the fog of politics to evaporate. It took slightly more than two years for his integrity and courage to come back into the sunlight. And it all returned at a time when his fellow Americans needed his self-described Plain Talk and his courage most of all.
Just as the stupid and bloody-minded fools of the far right were blathering, against all truth of the matter, that torture was the key to locating our most wanted criminal since Adolf Hitler, Senator John McCain stepped out into the sunlight of truth and said.
“With so much misinformation being fed into such an essential public debate as this one, I asked the Director of Central Intelligence, Leon Panetta, for the facts. And I received the following information:
“The trail to bin Laden did not begin with a disclosure from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who was waterboarded 183 times. We did not first learn from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed the real name of bin Laden’s courier, or his alias, Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti — the man who ultimately enabled us to find bin Laden. The first mention of the name Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, as well as a description of him as an important member of Al-Qaeda, came from a detainee held in another country. The United States did not conduct this detainee’s interrogation, nor did we render him to that country for the purpose of interrogation. We did not learn Abu Ahmed’s real name or alias as a result of waterboarding or any ‘enhanced interrogation technique’ used on a detainee in U.S. custody. None of the three detainees who were waterboarded provided Abu Ahmed’s real name, his whereabouts, or an accurate description of his role in Al-Qaeda.
“In fact, not only did the use of ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed not provide us with key leads on bin Laden’s courier, Abu Ahmed; it actually produced false and misleading information. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed specifically told his interrogators that Abu Ahmed had moved to Peshawar, got married, and ceased his role as an Al-Qaeda facilitator — which was not true, as we now know. All we learned about Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti through the use of waterboarding and other ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ against Khalid Sheik Mohammed was the confirmation of the already known fact that the courier existed and used an alias.
“I have sought further information from the staff of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and they confirm for me that, in fact, the best intelligence gained from a CIA detainee — information describing Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti’s real role in Al-Qaeda and his true relationship to Osama bin Laden — was obtained through standard, non-coercive means, not through any ‘enhanced interrogation technique.’
“In short, it was not torture or cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment of detainees that got us the major leads that ultimately enabled our intelligence community to find Osama bin Laden. I hope former Attorney General Mukasey will correct his misstatement. It’s important that he do so because we are again engaged in this important debate, with much at stake for America’s security and reputation. Each side should make its own case, but do so without making up its own facts.
Here’s the video of his entire speech on the floor of the US Senate. It may be one of the most important speeches in our honorable history. It’s long, but unrelenting in its condemnation of torture and, specifically waterboarding. It deserves the attention of every schoolchild, every citizen, every policeman, every soldier, every public official . . . every American.
Welcome Home Again John. We always knew you would be here when we needed you.