Friday, May 22, 2009

Piquing PolitiFact: How many times was waterboarding used?

Fresh from criticizing PolitiFact for flubbing its analysis attached to a statement from former vice president Dick Cheney, I e-mailed the Truth-O-Meter at PolitiFact asking for a resolution of the discrepancy between number of sessions reported in the so-called "torture memos" and the reports from the terrorists as given to the Red Cross.
Dear Truth-O-Meter,

I have encountered numerous news reports to the effect that Abu Zubaydah and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed were waterboarded 83 and 183 times, respectively.

But testimony from both men collected by the Red Cross appears to directly contradict that, as Zubaydah told of 10 waterboarding sessions and KSM said that he experienced 5 sessions.
http://www.nybooks.com/icrc-report.pdf
(see page 10)

How is this discrepancy explained?

Cheers,
Bryan
If my inquiry is not ignored (I expect it to be ignored), then PolitiFact will be set up to either publish a piece contradicting one of its earlier stories or forced into correcting the same earlier story.

I expect PolitiFact will do nothing to correct the misinformation it reinforces in its readership, but I look forward to seeing my expectation dashed.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Please remain on topic and keep coarse language to an absolute minimum. Comments in a language other than English will be assumed off topic.