Bad information and tens of thousands dead. The British law lords were spot on with their criticism of information gathered via torture. It's crap and useless and in this specific case provided enough information for Bush to charge into a war that has killed a few thousand Americans and a hell of a lot more Iraqis. The Bush and Blair crowd believe that using such information is helpful if it can save a life but how many have died because of this and who is going to accept responsibility? This goes so far beyond an impeachable offense, it should be reviewed at The Hague.
The Bush administration based a crucial prewar assertion about ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda on detailed statements made by a prisoner while in Egyptian custody who later said he had fabricated them to escape harsh treatment, according to current and former government officials.
The new disclosure provides the first public evidence that bad intelligence on Iraq may have resulted partly from the administration's heavy reliance on third countries to carry out interrogations of Qaeda members and others detained as part of American counterterrorism efforts. The Bush administration used Mr. Libi's accounts as the basis for its prewar claims, now discredited, that ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda included training in explosives and chemical weapons.
The fact that Mr. Libi recanted after the American invasion of Iraq and that intelligence based on his remarks was withdrawn by the C.I.A. in March 2004 has been public for more than a year. But American officials had not previously acknowledged either that Mr. Libi made the false statements in foreign custody or that Mr. Libi contended that his statements had been coerced.
