Rob O'Neill States Torture Categorically Does Not Work Based on 400 Combat Missions

What was said

"I'm going to start this off by saying I'm not a journalist either. I'm fortunate though, over 400 combat missions, I was what we call the battlefield interrogator until we softened it to tactical questioner. I'm gonna tell you, from the first time I did that in Iraq to the last time I did it, probably in Afghanistan or Pakistan, I learned along the way torture does not work at all."

The former Navy SEAL who killed Osama bin Laden emphatically stated that torture is ineffective based on hundreds of combat interrogations he personally conducted. O'Neill explained that torture only makes detainees tell interrogators what they want to hear, and that catching suspects in lies through rapport-building is far more effective. He called torture fundamentally wrong and urged young soldiers to learn from his 17 years of experience.