MSNBC's Buchanan falsely attributed dubious OLC memo claim to Hayden-Mukasey op-ed

During the April 17 and 18 editions of MSNBC Live, MNSBC contributor Pat Buchanan attributed the claim that the use of enhanced interrogation techniques on detainees allowed intelligence officials to foil an attack on Los Angeles' Library Tower to an April 17 Wall Street Journal op-ed by former CIA director Gen. Michael Hayden and former Attorney General Michael Mukasey. In fact, Mukasey and Hayden made no such claim in their op-ed. Buchanan's claim regarding the results of the techniques echoed statements made by several media figures, who pointed to a May 30, 2005, memo from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) that was written by then-acting Assistant Attorney General Steven Bradbury, which was recently released along with other OLC memos on interrogation by President Obama. The memo states that "the interrogation of KSM [Al Qaeda operative Khalid Shaikh Mohammed] -- once enhanced techniques were employed -- led to the discovery of a KSM plot, the 'Second Wave,' 'to use East Asian operatives to crash a hijacked airliner into' a building in Los Angeles." However, as Media Matters for America has noted, the Bush administration said in 2006 and 2007 that the Library Tower plot was broken up in February 2002 -- more than a year before Mohammed's capture in March 2003.

During Buchanan's April 17 MSNBC appearance, anchor Norah O'Donnell cited a passage from Hayden and Mukasey's op-ed in which they criticized Obama's release of the memos because it disclosed "the absolute limit of what the U.S. government could do to extract information from" terrorists, thus allowing them to "supplement their training accordingly." O'Donnell asked Buchanan, "I agree 100 percent with General Hayden and Attorney General Mukasey. I think they are exactly right. These are unpleasant techniques. They were used, but as they said, they revealed a new wave of attacks on the United States, which would have included an airliner smashing into a building in Los Angeles, and those lives were saved and a lot of these operations against us were exposed." Similarly, during his April 18 appearance, Buchanan claimed: "I've read General Hayden's statement yesterday in The Wall Street Journal, which was very impressive. And they say, look, these are not things they are people are done sadistically; they're done to gain intelligence. And using some of these techniques enabled them to get the intelligence to prevent a wave of acts of terror coming out of Asia, one of which involved a plane being driven into a building in Los Angeles."

Referring to the Library Tower plot, Page 10 of the Bradbury memo states:

You have informed us that the interrogation of KSM -- once enhanced techniques were employed -- led to the discovery of a KSM plot, the "Second Wave," "to use East Asian operatives to crash a hijacked airliner into" a building in Los Angeles. Effectiveness Memo at 3. You have informed us that information obtained from KSM also led to the capture of Riduan bin Isomuddin, better known as Hambali, and the discovery of the Guraba Cell, a 17-member Jemaah Islamiyah cell tasked with executing the "Second Wave," See id. at 3-4; CIA Directorate of Intelligence, Al-Qa'ida's Ties to Other Key Terror Groups: Terrorists Links in a Chain 2 (Aug. 28, 2003). More specifically, we understand that KSM admitted that he had tasked Majid Khan with delivering a large sum of money to an al Qaeda associate. See Fax from [REDACTED] DCI Counterterrorist Center, Briefing Notes on the Value of Detainee Reporting at 1 (April 15, 2005) ("Briefing Notes"). Khan subsequently identified the associate (Zubair), who was then captured. Zubair, in turn, provided information that led to the arrest of Hambali. See id. The information acquired from these captures allowed CIA interrogators to pose more specific questions to KSM, which led the CIA to Hambali's brother, al-Hadi. Using information obtained from multiple sources, al-Hadi "was captured, and he subsequently identified the Guraba cell. See id. at 1-2. With the aid of this additional information, interrogations of Hambali confirmed much of what was learned from KSM.

Some in the media have interpreted the memo's statement that the use of harsh interrogation techniques on Mohammed "led to the discovery" of the Library Tower plot as evidence that the use of these tactics was necessary for intelligence officials to thwart the plot. But as Slate.com's Timothy Noah noted on April 21, that claim conflicts with the "chronology" of events put forth on multiple occasions by the Bush administration. For instance, in a White House press briefing that Noah cited, Bush homeland security adviser Frances Fragos Townsend noted that Mohammed was not captured until more than a year after the individuals planning the Library Tower attacks concluded they had been "canceled." Noah also noted that a Bush administration fact sheet stated that the administration "broke up" the Library Tower plot "in 2002" -- before Mohammed was captured. Noah concluded:

Conceivably the Bush administration, or at least parts of the Bush administration, didn't realize until Sheikh Mohammed confessed under torture that it had already broken up a plot to blow up the Library Tower about which it knew nothing. Stranger things have happened. But the plot was already a dead letter. If foiling the Library Tower plot was the reason to water-board Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, then that water-boarding was more than cruel and unjust. It was a waste of water.

Several American counterterrorism officials have reportedly expressed doubts that the Library Tower plot ever advanced beyond the initial planning stages and ever posed a serious threat, as Media Matters for America documented in February 2006.

From the 3 p.m. ET hour of MSNBC Live on April 17:

O'DONNELL: Let's talk now about the other big news today, the CIA interrogation memos. Pat, we had General Michael Mukasey, the former attorney general, write an op-ed today with the head of the CIA, Hayden, criticizing what President Obama said, saying this public disclosure of these opinions, and thus the techniques themselves, assures that terrorists are now aware of the absolute limit of what the U.S. government could do to extract information from them, and now they can supplement their training accordingly. Do you agree with that?

BUCHANAN: I agree 100 percent with General Hayden and Attorney General Mukasey. I think they are exactly right. These are unpleasant techniques. They were used, but as they said, they revealed a new wave of attacks on the United States, which would have included an airliner smashing into a building in Los Angeles, and those lives were saved and a lot of these operations against us were exposed. Now, this is ugly stuff they're doing, but we're dealing with horribly ugly people who do not live by the Geneva Conventions, who are engaged in their techniques --

O'DONNELL: So it's OK to torture them?

BUCHANAN: I don't -- I mean, I can -- looked at everything that was done that was rough, tough stuff, including waterboarding, but frankly given who they were and given what was drawn out of them and in terms of intelligence and lives being saved, I think on balance, I agree with General Hayden.

O'DONNELL: It doesn't matter the means. Whatever the end is, is what you're saying?

BUCHANAN: No, I don't say -- it does matter the means. But what I'm saying is the means there and in terms of the end achieved, I agree with.

From the 10 a.m. ET hour of MSNBC Live on April 18:

ALEX WITT (anchor): There is a new report this morning suggesting the release of Bush-era memos detailing alleged torture tactics on a specific -- suspected, rather, terrorist was delayed by at least a month. The AP is reporting that four former CIA directors objected to those memos being released, saying that it would compromise intelligence operations.

Joining us now live from Washington, Democratic strategist Peter Fenn and MSNBC political analyst Pat Buchanan. So, a second good morning to my boys here. And as I begin with you, Pat, we're talking about waterboarding, sleep deprivation, the confinement with bugs. Has the president made America less safe by releasing these memos, in your mind?

BUCHANAN: Well, I've got a lot of respect for those CIA directors. And I've read General Hayden's statement yesterday in The Wall Street Journal, which was very impressive. And they say, look, these are not things they are people are done sadistically; they're done to gain intelligence. And using some of these techniques enabled them to get the intelligence to prevent a wave of acts of terror coming out of Asia, one of which involved a plane being driven into a building in Los Angeles.

And now all these techniques are gone, and the other side, the enemy knows that we're going to use the Army Field Manual and that is it, and they're learning that. So I think there's a real possibility that we're going to be denied an awful lot of intelligence that kept us safe for the last seven or eight years and that as a consequence to that, we could have a Mumbai here or a London subway bombing.

So I think you've got to respect some of these former CIA directors. These aren't evil people. They're not sadistic people. Their job was to secure the United States of America, and they did.