A former CIA agent has said he believes the agency is justified in using methods that may amount to torture in order to extract crucial information from terror suspects.
In the first detailed account by a CIA operative of the controversial interrogation technique known as “waterboarding”, John Kiriakou said a suspected al-Qa’eda lieutenant called Abu Zubaydah had responded “like flipping a switch”.
The information Zubaydah gave after 35 seconds of waterboarding probably disrupted "dozens" of planned attacks, Mr Kiriakou said.
“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 technique,” Mr Kiriakou, told ABC News.
He added: “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.”
The controversial technique involves restraining a prisoner on an inclined board with the subject's head positioned lower than his feet. Water is then poured on his face, triggering a gag reflex and choking the subject. In some cases, the subject's head may be submerged under water. (AtW's comment: shirtley they intentionally make head submerged to make simulation believeable? No doubt they also say some words to the effect that he will die now unless he talks.)
Mr Kiriakou, who now works in the private sector, came forward as the CIA faced sharp criticism for destroying a videotape of Zubaydah’s interrogation, along with another showing the interrogation of a second suspected al-Qa’eda member.
Critics have charged that the agency destroyed the tapes to hide evidence of illegal torture.
Zubaydah’s captors strapped him to a board, wrapped his nose and mouth in cling film, and poured water on his face, to simulate drowning.
Mr Kiriakou was a leading member of the team questioning Zubaydah in Pakistan in 2002 but he said he did not take part in the waterboarding.
The CIA’s director, Michael Hayden, who was not leading the agency when the tapes were destroyed, was today questioned by the Senate intelligence committee after claiming that the CIA destroyed tapes of the interrogation to protect the identity of the CIA agents.
Human rights organisations have expressed scepticism over Mr Hayden's insistence that no torture was used in the interrogation of the suspects.
"Millions of documents in CIA archives, if leaked, would identify CIA officers," Tom Malinowski, the Washington director of Human Rights Watch, said.
"The only difference here is that these tapes portray potentially criminal activity.
"They must have understood that if people saw these tapes, they would consider them to show acts of torture, which is a felony offence."
The issue raises difficult questions for the Bush administration, which has faced international criticism for its treatment of terror suspects and now faces charges from Democrats and human rights groups that it tried to cover up past abuse.
In the first detailed account by a CIA operative of the controversial interrogation technique known as “waterboarding”, John Kiriakou said a suspected al-Qa’eda lieutenant called Abu Zubaydah had responded “like flipping a switch”.
The information Zubaydah gave after 35 seconds of waterboarding probably disrupted "dozens" of planned attacks, Mr Kiriakou said.
“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 technique,” Mr Kiriakou, told ABC News.
He added: “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.”
The controversial technique involves restraining a prisoner on an inclined board with the subject's head positioned lower than his feet. Water is then poured on his face, triggering a gag reflex and choking the subject. In some cases, the subject's head may be submerged under water. (AtW's comment: shirtley they intentionally make head submerged to make simulation believeable? No doubt they also say some words to the effect that he will die now unless he talks.)
Mr Kiriakou, who now works in the private sector, came forward as the CIA faced sharp criticism for destroying a videotape of Zubaydah’s interrogation, along with another showing the interrogation of a second suspected al-Qa’eda member.
Critics have charged that the agency destroyed the tapes to hide evidence of illegal torture.
Zubaydah’s captors strapped him to a board, wrapped his nose and mouth in cling film, and poured water on his face, to simulate drowning.
Mr Kiriakou was a leading member of the team questioning Zubaydah in Pakistan in 2002 but he said he did not take part in the waterboarding.
The CIA’s director, Michael Hayden, who was not leading the agency when the tapes were destroyed, was today questioned by the Senate intelligence committee after claiming that the CIA destroyed tapes of the interrogation to protect the identity of the CIA agents.
Human rights organisations have expressed scepticism over Mr Hayden's insistence that no torture was used in the interrogation of the suspects.
"Millions of documents in CIA archives, if leaked, would identify CIA officers," Tom Malinowski, the Washington director of Human Rights Watch, said.
"The only difference here is that these tapes portray potentially criminal activity.
"They must have understood that if people saw these tapes, they would consider them to show acts of torture, which is a felony offence."
The issue raises difficult questions for the Bush administration, which has faced international criticism for its treatment of terror suspects and now faces charges from Democrats and human rights groups that it tried to cover up past abuse.
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