This is a very compelling story, told brilliantly, and it documents how the CIA discovered that torture doesn't work. It also shows how, for decades, the CIA argued against torture, not because it was wrong, but because it doesn't work. And so, when new people came into the CIA and decided after 9/11 to torture - and it was a decision that went against decades of policy, they had no idea how to do it.
Video below the squiggle...
Under the heading CIA ignores own lessons in developing torture program under Bush, "Rachel Maddow tells the history of Yuri [N]osenko, former KGB spy, to whom the United States apologized for torturing him when he tried to defect, and other examples of how the CIA learned that torture interrogations, while tempting, are counterproductive."
If you did not see this last night, please take 11 minutes and 22 seconds out of your busy day to watch this now.
6:11 AM PT: Rachel calls him "Yuri Yosenko" throughout the piece. His last name was actually "Nosenko." Thanks to Yasuragi for the correction.