Lawrence Wilkerson, the former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell, has a new story out claiming that the Bush administration authorized the Egyptians to waterboard top al Qaeda camp commander Ibn al Shaykh al Libi in order to generate phony intelligence connecting Iraq and al Qaeda. But, Wilkerson’s story doesn’t square with the known facts. I’m not going to recount all of the ins and outs of the intelligence debate concerning al Libi’s interrogation here. The bottom line is: Al Libi initially said that al Qaeda had sent trainees to Iraq for specialized chemical weapons training, but later recanted that testimony. To this day, some of the officials involved (including former CIA Director George Tenet) say they cannot tell whether al Libi’s initial story or his recantation was accurate. The problem is that al Libi recanted everything, including his admitted role inside al Qaeda, which no one seriously denies. Al Libi was clearly a terrorist training camp commander. And Tenet says that the testimony of another senior al Qaeda operative was consistent with al Libi’s original story. Other intelligence officials, of course, dismiss the reporting entirely. Now, Wilkerson purports to offer new details concerning al Libi’s interrogation. Wilkerson writes (emphasis added):