Terror Averted, Thanks to Torture?

It was a little news item at first, the one where it was revealed that the whole recent international terror plot was foiled due to the initial arrest of a jihadist in Pakistan. The Pakistanis were quick to take the credit for it, of course.

Yet there is no way a jihadist would spill the beans on such a plot just like that. Was that man tortured by the Pakistani authorities? It's a guess, but it wouldn't be a surprise. If so, do thousands of westerners owe their lives to one man being tortured?

It's becoming quite amusing seeing how AP, Reuters, and AFP are tippy-toeing around that main question. They're now trying to bury the significance of that initial arrest with all sorts of facts about the subsequent arrests in Pakistan, in the hopes that no one will ask the most significant question of all.

UPDATE: More information is now available about the initial Pakistani arrest, via AFP:

In Pakistan, two senior officials told AFP that Britain's intelligence services had asked their Pakistan counterparts to trail Rauf after he entered the country. He was arrested on August 4 in the eastern city of Bahawalpur.

[…]

"When they interrogated Rauf, he broke. He told them what we believe was not even in the knowledge of the US and the British -- that they were actually planning to blow up airliners," one of the officials said.

Now, why are none of these journalists asking the obvious question at this time: did Britain’s intelligence services tip the Pakistanis off, knowing that the Pakistani security services would be able to “break” Rauf? It seems journalists only ask the tough questions when their political interests are served.