FBI Director Says He Has the Tools He Needs to Interrogate without Torture

The Washington Post reports on FBI Director Robert Mueller’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday:

Mueller said the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit has found that building trust with prisoners is “particularly effective.” He pointed to the FBI’s interrogation of Saddam Hussein, which yielded crucial details about the former Iraqi government’s actions and motivations.

“Our techniques and the experts that we have . . . believe that our techniques are effective, and are sufficient and appropriate to our mission,” Mueller said. “And those techniques are founded on a desire to develop a rapport and a relationship.”

President Bush is expected to veto a bill this week that would bar the CIA from using harsh techniques, including waterboarding, a type of simulated drowning.