Over the weekend, Dick Cheney and other Bush apologists resurrected their exhaustively debunked claim that their policies -- including and specifically torture -- kept us safe since 9/11.
Of course, this is a huge bucket of horseshit. There was only one attack by al-Qaeda on the mainland of the U.S. during the Clinton administration, after which they "kept us safe" for the remaining eight years without torture and other similar policies. And if we're talking about cumulative non-war-zone attacks by al-Qaeda, here's a convenient chart from The Economist:
Check out the number of al-Qaeda attacks during the Clinton years and the number of attacks during the Bush years. Way to go, Bushies!
Furthermore, the Bush administration admits to using waterboarding between 2002 and 2005 when it discontinued the practice. So if it was so effective, why didn't KSM give up Bin Laden's location while being waterboarded 183 times in a single month?
And finally, I'm still waiting for a conservative to show me an interrogation/intel expert who believes waterboarding and other harsh methods are more effective than standard interrogation techniques. Waiting...