Just for the record, Bush administration officials made the same unverifiable claims about torture:

The director of the National Security Agency, defending his agency after days of furor over secret data-surveillance programs, said those government efforts had prevented dozens of terrorist attacks in recent years.

While I have little doubt that what the General says has merit, Tom Udall also makes a compelling argument:

Added Sen. Tom Udall (D., N.M.): “It’s very, very difficult I think for us to have a transparent debate about secret programs approved by a secret court issuing secret court orders based on secret interpretations of the law.”