Giuliani Brags About Using "Intensive" Interrogation Techniques As a Prosecutor

This post, written by Lindsay Beyerstein, originally appeared on Majkthise

An interviewer asked presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani whether he knew more about torture than his opponent John McCain. Giuliani replied:

MR. GIULIANI: I can't say that I do but I do know a lot about intensive questioning and intensive questioning techniques. After all, I have had a different experience than John. John has never been - he has never run city, never run a state, never run a government. He has never been responsible as a mayor for the safety and security of millions of people, and he has never run a law enforcement agency, which I have done.

Now, intensive questioning works. If I didn't use intensive questioning, there would be a lot of mafia guys running around New York right now and crime would be a lot higher in New York than it is. Intensive question has to be used. Torture should not be used. The line between the two is a difficult one. [Bloomberg]

Speaking of the mafia... Maybe Giuliani should have asked a few more questions of his buddy Bernie Kerik. Giuliani testified in 2000 that his aide told him about Kerik's ties to an allegedly mafia-linked company. In 2006, Kerik pleaded guilty to allowing the company to do $165,000 worth of free work on his Bronx apartment.Update: Joe Conason questions some of Giuliani's more overblown claims about his record on terrorism, with the help of formerly sealed testimony obtained by Wayne Barrett of the Village Voice. On the campaign trail, Giuliani claimed that the threat of Osama Bin Laden was obvious to him before 9/11, however he testified to the 9/11 Commission that he wasn't even briefed about Al Qaeda until after the attacks.

Barret notes that Giuliani and Mukasey go back a very long way.