"Three thousand prisoners have sat in that chair. They have all talked." So said the Egyptian interrogators to Ibn al Sheik al Libi.

Al Libi was illegally rendered to Egypt by the CIA. Did the CIA know torture was routine in Egyptian prisons?

The State Department has placed Egypt on its annual violators of human rights list for years.

After al Libi was buried alive in a small box for 17 hours, and then taken out and beaten, he became number 3,001 prisoner to break under torture. Once al Libi figured out what information his torturers wanted, he spun a tale claiming that two named al-Qaida members went to Iraq where they were trained in the use of chemical and biological weapons.

This "smoking gun intelligence" made its way into Colin Powell's February 2003 United Nations speech making the case for the Bush administration's imminent attack on Iraq. A year later, Powell, the CIA, and the DIA reported to the Senate Intelligence Committee, the information had become unreliable. Al Libi admitted he made everything up to avoid further mistreatment.

Recently the Pentagon investigated 600,000 documents from Iraq and found no credible link whatsoever between al-Qaida and Saddam Hussein in regard to chemical and biological weapons.

Still, after five years of war in Iraq, president, vice president and his congressional supporters tell us that the 3,002nd prisoner to sit in the chair and experience enhanced interrogation techniques (euphemism for torture) actually could prevent further attacks and save lives.

Sigh.

Paul Ferris

Waterville