The O'Reilly Factor hosted Ali Soufan, a former FBI terrorism expert, who believes that "enhanced interrogation" techniques do not work. He appeared on The Factor to counter previous claims made by ex-CIA officer - and torture apologist - Jose Rodriguez. As Soufan tried to explain to O'Reilly that Rodriguez' claims have "been discredited," O'Reilly interrupted to say, "not to me, though, and that's the important thing for you tonight."
O'Reilly's point was that Soufan was not there when the "enhanced interrogation techniques" were employed. O'Reilly insisted, "I don't want to take sides on this 'cause I wasn't there, alright, but you should know that I do agree with enhanced interrogations at some point."
But Soufan told O'Reilly:
“The CIA’s own investigation of the program revealed that not one single imminent threat was stopped because of enhanced interrogation techniques. So is the Department of Justice investigation. So is the Department of Defense investigations. Unfortunately, for Mr. Rodriguez, today, we have volumes of documents that has been declassified by the government that tell us the truth about what happened… I believe that there is a big difference between having a compliance and cooperation. Our technique, the traditional techniques, as use by CIA and the FBI and DOD… I don’t think we need waterboarding to save lives."
Yet "independent" O'Reilly seemed uninterested in what Soufan had to offer other than in the name of balance. He put forth no signals that he'd investigate further or provide more information to his "no spin zone" viewers.
Is Bill even trying anymore? It’s like he doesn’t even care about his ratings enough to brag about them anymore, let alone any item of substance.
Well Ali, now you know — being a Peabody Award winner makes BillO an authority on any subject . . .
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