New details in CIA waterboarding

[maddezmom]

Source: AP

New details in CIA waterboarding By PAMELA HESS, Associated Press Writer
1 minute ago



WASHINGTON - New details emerged Tuesday about the CIA's waterboarding of a top al-Qaida figure as the agency's director, Gen. Michael Hayden, prepared for questioning by congressional panels about the destruction of CIA videotapes of terror suspect interrogations.

According to a former CIA agent, waterboarding of Abu Zubaydah, a major al-Qaida figure, got him to talk in less than 35 seconds, a technique he asserted had the approval of high-ranking U.S. officials. He said he thought the technique, which critics say is torture, probably disrupted "dozens" of planned al-Qaida attacks.

The former agent, John Kiriakou, a leader of the team that captured Zubaydah, did not explain how he knew who approved the interrogation technique but said such approval comes from top officials.

"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 Tuesday on NBC's "Today" show. "This was a policy made at the White House, with concurrence from the National Security Council and Justice Department."



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071211/ap_on_go_co/cia_videotapes;_ylt=At7JwJ4tud9C1d2D4H1UiRqs0NUE

[tekisui]

1. The CIA may turn out to be chimpys real check and balance.

[ixion]

2. yeah, 'critics' like the Geneva Conventions

great reporting, that. :eyes:

[zabet]

3. ......

"This was a policy made at the White House,
with concurrence from the National Security
Council and Justice Department."

That is it in a nut shell. Go to the White
House and arrest the criminals that authorized
torture and violation of the Geneva Convention.

[whosinpower]

4. I just read a headline.....

SUPPORTING the use of waterboarding. What has America become....a nation that is reduced to supporting the use of torture. Pathetic.

[zabet]

8. I do not know

what it has become but,
it sure is not the America
I used to know and love.
:cry:

[AndyTiedye]

16. The MEDIA Will Continue to Support ANYTHING Bush** Does

Ask not what America has become, ask…

[LynnTheDem]

5. "enhanced technique". Wake up, America; you TORTURE people.

And the entire world knows it.

Ya really think that's gonna save American lives??!

[theDash]

6. they are trying to justify torture by claiming it saved lives

Is that the only way to interrogate prisoners to get information? There was no other option but to torture?

How many times did this administration publically call Saddam a torturer in order to demonize him and justify the war?

Yet, when we do it, it's totally justified?

This is a crime. But like always, it's going to be swept under the rug.

[LynnTheDem]

7. It may be swept under the rug, as usual, by Americans. It isn't going to be by the rest of

the world.

Blowback is gonna be a total bitch.

[Supersedeas]

17. the rack, maiming, castration, starvation might work to, but is it right?

[leftchick]

15. evern the democrats call it "techniques"

give me a fucking break! It is torture and the democrats are complicit! IMPEACH his ass!

[truthisfreedom]

9. Got him to talk in 35 seconds, but they kept at the waterboarding for 6 hours just for good measure.

[elocs]

10. Apparently, when the U.S. tortures it is for a righteous and noble cause,

but when our enemies torture, it is evil. What happens if the other side decides it will save some of their lives or the lives of their people if they torture an American soldier to get valuable information? What happens if they then torture that soldier and succeed in getting the info that saves their lives, yet costs American lives? Aren't they as justified in doing this as Bushco is?

[maddezmom]

11. hearing underway on CSPAN re: waterboarding and detainee rights

some background info here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=2445887&mesg_id=2445887

[FourScore]

12. CIA waterboarding details emerge

Source: AP

The CIA's waterboarding of a top al-Qaida figure was approved at the top levels of the U.S. government, a former CIA agent said Tuesday as agency director Gen. Michael Hayden prepared for questioning by congressional panels about the destruction of videotapes of terror suspect interrogations.

According to the former agent, waterboarding 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, a major al-Qaida figure.

Kiriakou did not explain how he knew who approved the interrogation technique but said such approval comes from top officials.

"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 Tuesday on NBC's "Today" show. "This was a policy made at the White House, with concurrence from the National Security Council and Justice Department."



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071211/ap_on_go_co/cia_videotapes

[Brrrp]

13. There are no "ex" CIA agents.

This little Tucker Carlson clone is the new face of torture in America.

[Xipe Totec]

14. So, they got him to confess that Allah talks to him?

Yea, that pretty much proves how effective this technique is to get anybody to confess to anything, any time.

If you're trying to learn the truth, however, you're pretty much screwed.

[cosmicdot]

18. change in the Yahoo link

again (happens a lot w/Yahoo) ...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071211/ap_on_go_co/cia_videotapes_134

also, found here:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071211.wwaterboarding1211/BNStory/International/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20071211.wwaterboarding1211