Brits Slam Bush's Claim That Waterboarding Saved Lives

British officials are deriding George W. Bush’s claim that waterboarding terror suspects “helped break up plots.” In his memoir, Bush asserts that such “interrogations” of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two others stopped attacks at Heathrow Airport and other locations. British officials counter that Mohammed’s information was largely on al-Qaeda structure and “was not known to have” come from torture, the Guardian reports.

For Bush “to demonstrate the use of torture saved British lives, he has to demonstrate you can't get information any other way,” says a former top UK official. But US officials support Bush’s claim, reports the Daily Telegraph. They point to Mohammed’s statement that he was “planning, surveying, and financing” attacks on Heathrow, Big Ben, and London’s Canary Wharf. The US shared information from Mohammed’s interrogation with the UK, said a top US official. Bush, for his part, just wants you to read his book.
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