What really kept us safe

Re “Dealing with the ‘torture memos,’ ” April 23

Law professor John C. Yoo believes that the interrogation tactics used have worked because another terrorist attack has not occurred since 9/11.

I believe the reason another attack has not occurred is because we sent troops into Afghanistan, leading to the toppling of the Taliban-led government that protected Al Qaeda, the dismantling of terrorist bases and the capture or killing of many of its leaders. Once they had to run for the hills, it became much more difficult to carry out other attacks.

We had plenty of information about Al Qaeda before the 9/11 attacks. Neither President Clinton nor President Bush took the group out.

We didn’t need to torture anyone to stop Al Qaeda. We just needed to go after them -- a job that might have been finished already but for our unnecessary detour into Iraq.

Howard Levine

Encino