Two Sides of a Coin

You say Tomato, I say effing Tomato...
CIA: Waterboarding an Al Qaeda captive provided valuable information and prevented future attacks. FBI: All information obtained from captive as a result of waterboarding was crap.

Abu Zubaydah was:

A) A high-ranking Al Qaeda operative who largely confounded U.S. interrogators with his literary and tactical genius until they submitted him to waterboarding and other forms of torture. After that, he provided key information that likely preempted future attacks.

B) A low-ranking and mentally ill Al Qaeda operative who provided valuable information under gentle questioning, but whose confessions made under torture were useless. Much of the threat information he provided was "crap."

A is the CIA's version (and the President's). B is the FBI's. And in today's Washington Post, Dan Eggen and Walter Pincus walk through the competing profiles. Zubaydah, remember, was one of the two detainees whose interrogations appeared on the destroyed CIA tapes.

It's clear off the bat that the version of events provided by John Kiriakou, the former CIA agent who launched something like a PR blitz last week, is not quite right. In his telling, Zubaydah held out until waterboarded; after only 35 seconds of that, he gave in and "from that day on, he answered every question."

By contrast, both CIA and FBI agents tell the Post that he provided valuable information before he was waterboarded. And there wasn't just one session: "Instead, [other former and current officials] said, harsh tactics used on him at a secret detention facility in Thailand went on for weeks or, depending on the account, even months."

and then it gets more interesting.... (Link to the story)

Without quoting George Orwell - which is difficult - Why would one government agency completely contradict the other government agency? Is this a funding feud? Is this to insert dis-information to our enemies? I'm confused by the confusion.

Wait, maybe there are two guys named Abu Zubaydah!
That's probably it. A case of mistaken identity like the Prince and the Pauper?!
Sure. Oh, the hilarity! Like a Woody Allen movie or something?
"Sorry about the waterboarding, old chap. You look just like Abu!"
"Yeah, I get that a lot! Can I go home now?"