WSJ: Interrogation and Intelligence WSJ: Interrogation and Intelligence

WSJ article: "Interrogation and Intelligence: What we learned from KSM and friends" is a nice counterpoint to my last post on the LAT article today calling for the impeachment of Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld. This article is a must-read look at some of our intelligence successes in the War on Terror, whereas the LAT article is the farthest thing from serious, calling for the impeachment of Rumsfeld based on a three year old scandal where the perps are either behind bars or already out after serving their time. One excerpt from the WSJ article:

KSM, for his part, led U.S. intelligence to a Southeast Asian terrorist leader named Hambali, whose organization was responsible for the 2002 Bali bombing. After his brother was also arrested and a cell of 17 operatives broken up, Hambali confessed he had been acting on KSM's orders to plan another attack on the U.S. KSM also led U.S. intelligence to al Qaeda operatives responsible for a program to develop biological weapons such as anthrax.

In all, it appears a substantial number of plots were foiled because of the CIA interrogation program. They included attacks not only in the U.S. but on targets such as a U.S. Marine camp in Djibouti and the U.S. consulate in Karachi. Mr. Bush said that information from the program played a role in the arrest of "nearly every" senior al Qaeda member in U.S. custody. These detainees have proven invaluable to our general understanding of their organization and have helped the U.S. decipher captured documents and computer records and identified voices on recorded calls.