Powell not sure whether torture of extremists works

Washington, May 25 (ANI): Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell has said that he has "no idea" if the enhanced interrogation techniques used during the Bush administration were effective.

"I have no idea. I hear that they were. I hear that they weren't. You see people from the FBI who come out and say, 'We got all of that information before any of that was done.' I cannot answer that question. And the problem is, I don't know what I don't know," Powell told CBS's "Face the Nation" Sunday program.

He said that he was aware that enhanced methods of interrogation were being considered in the aftermath of 9/11 but said he was "not privy" to the memos of legal documents that were being written.

"I think it was unfortunate but we had a system that kept that in a very compartmented manner. And so I was apart that these enhanced interrogation techniques were being considered. And they were judged not to be torture at the time," he said.

He argued that when "facing the possibility of a 9/11, you had to give some-some flexibility to the CIA," noting that these methods were stopped under the Bush administration.

"It's easy now in the cold light of day to look back and say, you shouldn't have done any of that," Powell said. (ANI)