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Holder: I Don’t Know If Enhanced Interrogation Helped Catch Osama Bin Laden

Attorney General Eric Holder

Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday that he didn’t know if any information obtained from detainees undergoing enhanced interrogation techniques lead to the killing of Osama bin Laden.

“There was a mosaic of sources that lead to the identification of the people” who lead to bin Laden, Holder told members of the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. Pressed by Rep. Dan Lungren (R-CA) on whether any information used to find bin Laden came out during enhanced interrogation, Holder said he didn’t know.

Holder wouldn’t engage in a hypothetical on whether he would have opposed a military trial for bin Laden had he been taken into custody instead of killed.

Lungren asked whether it was inconsistent for the United States to be okay with putting a bullet in bin Laden’s head but be worried about subjecting him to torture.

“The aim with regard to bin Laden was to kill or capture him, I would think that with regard to Khalid Sheik Muhammed we could probably apply those same standards — kill or capture,” Holder said.

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