"Harsh interrogations would work, they were arguing, if only they were harsher".
Their passionate appeal to end harsh interrogations "made an extraordinary impression on me," he said.
The C.I.A.'s destruction of videotapes of harsh interrogations is under criminal investigation.
They showed agency operatives using harsh interrogations methods on two Qaeda detainees, Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri.
Outside the country, they turn suspects over to governments that do not have our qualms about harsh interrogations.
But as the harsh interrogations became "routinized," second thoughts — and fear of legal exposure — began to mount.
Over the objections of the Central Intelligence Agency, he recommended the release of Justice Department memorandums describing harsh interrogations.
Yet nowhere does he refute the facts at hand: that intelligence gleaned from harsh interrogations played a key role in finding Bin Laden.
But his objection to the film's depiction of the role that harsh interrogations played in the eventual raid on Bin Laden's compound is misplaced, and shortsighted.
Sanchez's worst decision was signing off on harsh interrogations of Iraqi detainees — which, when the photographs leaked from Abu Ghraib, resulted in one of the war's signal disasters.
When journalists pointed out this error, Kiriakou blamed C.I.A. colleagues who he said had deliberately misled him in order to make the harsh interrogations seem like a success.
