White House Evades Question of Whether Enhanced Interrogations Led to OBL Raid

The death of Osama Bin Laden has reawakened the debate over enhanced interrogation techniques--or what some call torture--and whether they are effective and morally justified.

Did enhanced interrogations lead the U.S. to Bin Laden? Some say no. Others say yes.

From the AP:

U.S. officials said the information that ultimately led to bin Laden's death originally came from detainees held in secret CIA prison sites in Eastern Europe. There, agency interrogators were told of an alias used by a courier whom bin Laden particularly trusted.

It took four long years to learn the man's real name, then years more before investigators got a big break in the case, these officials said.

What does the White House say?

Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, evaded a question on this matter today during a press briefing. When asked if information from enhanced interrogations was used to help track down bin Laden, Carney seemed to say "yes and no."

"The fact is that no single piece of information led to the successful mission that occurred on Sunday. Multiple detainees provided insights into the networks of people who might have been close to bin Laden."

He added, "But reporting from detainees is just a slice of the information that has been gathered  by incredibly diligent professionals over the years in the intelligence community. It's simply strange...to suggest that a piece of information that may or may not have been gathered eight years ago somehow directly led to a successful mission on Sunday."