Powell not sure if torture of extremists works

The Former US Secretary of State said that he has 'no idea' if the enhanced interrogation techniques used during the Bush administration were effective.

Written by: ANI

2 min readWashingtonMay 25, 2009 12:36 PM IST

Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell has said that he has 8220;no idea8221; if the enhanced interrogation techniques used during the Bush administration were effective.

8220;I have no idea. I hear that they were. I hear that they werent. You see people from the FBI who come out and say,8221;We got all of that information before any of that was done.8221; I cannot answer that question. And the problem is,I dont know what I dont know,8221; Powell told CBSs 8220;Face the Nation8221; Sunday programme.

He said that he was aware that enhanced methods of interrogation were being considered in the aftermath of 9/11 but said he was 8220;not privy8221; to the memos of legal documents that were being written.

8220;I think it was unfortunate but we had a system that kept that in a very compartmented manner. And so I was apart that these enhanced interrogation techniques were being considered. And they were judged not to be torture at the time,8221; he said.

He argued that when 8220;facing the possibility of a 9/11,you had to give some some flexibility to the CIA,8221; noting that these methods were stopped under the Bush administration.

8220;Its easy now in the cold light of day to look back and say,you shouldn8221;t have done any of that,8221; Powell said.

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