Debra Burlingame was one of fifty 9/11 family members who met in a closed-door meeting with President Barack Obama today near Ground Zero. She asked him, considering that by all reports the enhanced interrogations of high-value detainees was “part of the mosaic” of the intelligence that led to Osama bin Laden, if he would at least give his opinion to Attorney General Eric Holder about dropping the investigation of CIA interrorgators. President Obama replied, “No, I won’t.” Here is the video of her Fox News interview:
CIA
9/11, CIA, Debra Burlingame, detainee, Osama bin Laden
Bush era detainees interrogations led to Osama bin Laden
by Tim Sumner •
The Washington Post has reported:
The operation hinged almost entirely on the hunt for a single man: a courier working out of Pakistan who had been trusted by bin Laden for years. U.S. analysts and operatives spent years figuring out the courier’s identity, senior administration officials said, concluding that he was a former protege of Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the self-declared mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks who is being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The courier “in particular had our constant attention,” one official said. Detainees “identified this man as one of the few al-Qaeda couriers trusted by bin Laden, indicated he might be living with or protecting bin Laden,” the official said. But until four years ago, the United States was unable to track him down or uncover his real name. Two years ago, U.S. officials narrowed down the region in Pakistan where the courier was working, senior administration officials said.
During a Fox News interview late last night, Debra Burlingame said, “We need to ask our national security leaders and the President, frankly, why we don’t have an interrogation program; right now we have no interrogation program on its feet.”
Osama bin Laden’s body was then buried at sea.