Former CIA Chief Morell: Enhanced Interrogation Techniques ‘Absolutely Effective’

Friday on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” former CIA deputy director Mike Morell defended enhanced interrogation techniques.

He said we can debate whether or not it’s moral, but the truth is it was “absolutely effective.”

“I don’t call it torture,” he said. “[L]et me say a couple of things about enhanced techniques. First is, was it legal? There was a debate now but at the time, the Justice Department said this is legal, this is not torture. The second question is, was it effective? In my mind, absolutely effective. I looked at this very close.”

“I looked at it closely when Senate Democrats did their report,” Morell continued. “I convinced myself that it was effective in getting people to tell us things they wouldn’t have,” he added, “The third question is necessary. We’ll never know the answer to that question. We’ll never know if there was some other way. We’ll never know whether suspending habeas corpus was necessary to win the war. That’s a question we’ll never know. The last question, was it the right thing to do, moral? That’s where the debate should be. the Senate Democrats never got to that question in their report.”

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN