Bush Defends Waterboarding

The Guardian quotes former President Bush as defending the technique of "waterboarding" (now banned under President Obama) terrorist suspects:

"I knew an interrogation programme this sensitive and controversial would one day become public. When it did, we would open ourselves up to criticism that America had compromised our moral values. I would have preferred that we get the information another way. But the choice between security and values was real.

Their interrogations helped break up plots to attack American diplomatic facilities abroad, Heathrow airport and Canary Wharf in London, and multiple targets in the United States."

There is much debate as to whether (morality aside) techniques such as this actually produce any real information that actually saves lives.