“[T]he CIA’s own inspector general [John L. Helgerson], in a [May 7] 2004 special review of the use of ‘enhanced interrogation techniques,’ refused to reach any conclusion as to whether these techniques were the reason [al Qaeda operative Abu] Zubaydah produced useful information. The CIA did learn more from Zubaydah after he was waterboarded eighty-three times in August 2002, but, the agency concluded, ‘it is not possible to say definitely that the waterboard is the reason for Abu Zubaydah’s increased production.’ And the CIA’s inspector general did not attempt to compare the value of this ‘increased production’ to what had been learned before the use of these techniques. Indeed, FBI sources told journalist Jane Mayer that the U.S. government obtained its best information from Zubaydah…before the CIA began torturing him, when the FBI was engaged in ‘rapport building’ with the prisoner.”
– Julian E. Zelizer, ed., The Presidency of George W. Bush, Page 75