CIA torture approved at highest levels
The extreme interrogation method used on a top al-Qaida captive was approved at the top levels of the US government, a former CIA agent claimed today.
He said the “waterboarding”, or simulated drowning, of Abu Zubaydah got him to talk in less than 35 seconds.
The technique, which critics say is torture, probably disrupted “dozens” of planned al-Qaida attacks, said John Kiriakou, a leader of the team that captured Zubaydah.
Mr Kiriakou did not explain how he knew who approved the interrogation technique but said such approval comes from top officials.
Waterboarding is a harsh interrogation technique that involves strapping down a prisoner, covering his mouth with plastic or cloth and pouring water over his face. The prisoner quickly begins to inhale water, causing the sensation of drowning.
“This isn’t something done willy nilly. This isn’t something where an agency officer just wakes up in the morning and decides he’s going to carry out an enhanced technique on a prisoner,” he said today on NBC television.
“This was a policy made at the White House, with concurrence from the National Security Council and Justice Department.”
At the White House, press secretary Dana Perino said the CIA interrogation programme approved by the president is safe, tough, effective and legal.
“It’s no secret that the president approved a lawful programme in order to interrogate hardened terrorists,” Perino said. “We do not torture. We also know that this programme has saved lives by disrupting terrorist attacks.”
Each time CIA agents wished to use waterboarding or any other harsh interrogation technique, they had to present a “well-laid out, well-thought out reason” to top government officials, Mr Kiriakou said. In Zubaydah’s case, he said the waterboarding had immediate effect.
“The next day, he told his interrogator that Allah had visited him in his cell during the night and told him to cooperate,” Mr Kiriakou said.
“From that day on, he answered every question. The threat information he provided disrupted a number of attacks, maybe dozens of attacks.”
Details of Zubaydah’s interrogation came as the agency’s director general Michael Hayden prepared for two days of questioning by Senate and House intelligence panels about the CIA’s destruction of the videotapes.
Mr Kiriakou said he did not know the interrogation of Zubaydah was being recorded by the CIA and did not know the tapes subsequently were destroyed.
“Like a lot of Americans, I’m involved in this internal, intellectual battle with myself weighing the idea that waterboarding may be torture versus the quality of information that we often get after using the waterboarding technique. And I struggle with it,” he said.
“What happens if we don’t waterboard a person and we don’t get that nugget of information and there’s an attack. I would have trouble forgiving myself. ... At the time, I felt that waterboarding was something that we needed to do.”
Mr Hayden revealed last week that the CIA taped the interrogations of two alleged terrorists in 2002.
The CIA destroyed the tapes in November of 2005. Exactly when Congress was notified and in what detail is in dispute.
