Waterboarding saves lives

John Kiriakou, a 14-year veteran of the CIA, tortured people in Pakistan. He says waterboarding “probably saved lives,” but he now regards it as torture.

(Huh?)

Kiriakou tortured Zayn Abidin Muhammed Hussein abu Zubaida in a secret CIA dungeon shortly after the Bush regime perpetrated 9-11. Kiriakou says this led to “intelligence breakthroughs” that allowed the USA to disrupt several planned acts of resistance.

Abu Zubaida was one of two detainees whose torture was captured in video recordings that the CIA later destroyed.

Kiriakou said he first spoke to Abu Zubaida in a Pakistani military hospital. Abu Zubaida was recovering from wounds he suffered in a gun battle that led to his capture in the spring of 2002. After Abu Zubaida came out of a coma, he was tortured. (He now continues to rot in Guantanamo.)

Kiriakou described Abu Zubaida as uncooperative until U.S. torturers strapped him to a board, wrapped his nose and mouth in cellophane, and forced water down his throat. The next day Abu Zubaida said he would say whatever his tormentors wanted.

Today (Tuesday 11 Dec 07) top CIA officials will appear before a closed congressional hearing to explain why the CIA destroyed videotapes of torture sessions in violation of court orders. Last Thursday, CIA Director Michael V. Hayden said the CIA destroyed the tapes in 2005 to protect the torturers’ identities.

The issue arose when attorneys for captives in the Guantanamo Bay prison filed lawsuits contesting their wrongful incarceration.

Yesterday the House intelligence committee's chairman, Silvestre Reyes (D-Tex.), and ranking Republican Pete Hoekstra (Mich.) (Zionist Jew) announced that the panel will launch its own investigation into the tapes' destruction. Reyes and Hoekstra said Hayden's assertion that the committee had been "properly notified" of the destruction "does not appear to be true."

CIA officials claim they briefed intelligence committee leaders from both parties many times on torture techniques, and mentioned the tapes, but none of the lawmakers asked to view them.

The Justice Department and the CIA inspector general's office also have begun a preliminary inquiry into the tapes' destruction. Members of the bipartisan commission that whitewashed Bush’s Sept. 11 attacks say the CIA repeatedly told them there were no videotapes of torture sessions. CIA officials now say there were hundreds of hours of recordings.

Kiriakou said he did not know that the torture sessions were videotaped, although there often were closed-circuit video systems in the rooms where torture took place.

Bush says Abu Zubaida was a highly placed terrorist, but law enforcement sources say Abu Zubaida did little more than help with logistics for resistance leaders and their associates.

Before the tapes were destroyed, several federal judges issued court orders requiring the CIA and other government agencies to preserve records related to torture. Some attorneys are seeking new orders for preserving records.

On Sunday (9 Dec 07) attorneys for Yemeni national Mohmoad Abdah filed a motion alleging the CIA violated an order issued in June 2005 by U.S. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy Jr. in Washington. Kennedy told the government to "preserve and maintain all evidence and information regarding the torture, mistreatment, and abuse of detainees now at the United States Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba."

Kiriakou is now retired from the CIA. He says he went public to correct misperceptions about torture. “The public has to understand how hard people are working to make them safe," he said.

Kiriakou said he now has “mixed feelings” about the use of waterboarding.

"It was an ugly episode that was perhaps necessary at that time. But we've moved beyond that."

(Tell that to those who are still being tortured, and held in places like Guantanamo.)

Source: Washington Compost

{PS: in case anyone is curious, "Kiriakou" is a Greek name.}