CIA Acknowledges Use Of Waterboarding

Controversial Tactic Used On 3 Terror Suspects, Senate Democrats Demand Criminal Probe

(CBS/AP)  Senate Democrats demanded a criminal investigation into waterboarding by government interrogators Tuesday after the Bush administration acknowledged for the first time that the tactic was used on three terror suspects.

In congressional testimony Tuesday, CIA Director Michael Hayden became the first administration official to publicly acknowledge the agency used waterboarding on detainees following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Forms of waterboarding vary but generally consist of immobilizing an individual on his or her back - head inclined downward - and pouring water over the face to induce the sensation of drowning. Waterboarding produces a gag reflex and makes the victim believe death is imminent. The technique leaves no visible physical damage.

"We used it against these three detainees because of the circumstances at the time," Hayden told the Senate Intelligence Committee. "There was the belief that additional catastrophic attacks against the homeland were inevitable. And we had limited knowledge about al Qaeda and its workings. Those two realities have changed."

Hayden said Khalid Sheik Mohammed, Abu Zubayda and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri were waterboarded in 2002 and 2003. Hayden banned the technique in 2006, but National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell told senators during the same hearing Tuesday that waterboarding remains in the CIA arsenal - so long as it as the specific consent of the president and legal approval of the attorney general.

That prompted Sen. Dick Durbin, the Senate's No. 2 Democrat and a member of the Judiciary Committee, to call on the Justice Department to open a criminal inquiry into whether past use of waterboarding violated any law. The Pentagon has banned its employees from using waterboarding to extract information from detainees, and FBI Director Robert Mueller said his investigators do not use coercive tactics in interviewing terror suspects.

Durbin, already frustrated with Attorney General Michael Mukasey's refusal last week to define waterboarding a form of torture as critics have, said he would block the nomination of the Justice Department's No. 2 official if the criminal inquiry isn't opened.

It was a particularly sharp threat by Durbin, who represents Illinois - the same state that U.S. District Judge Mark Filip of Chicago, the deputy attorney general nominee, calls home.

"In light of the Justice Department's continued non-responsiveness to Congress on the issue of torture, including your disappointing testimony on waterboarding last week, I have reluctantly concluded that placing a hold on Judge Filip's nomination is my only recourse for eliciting timely and complete responses to important questions on torture," Durbin wrote in a letter to Mukasey on Tuesday.

He added: "A Justice Department investigation should explore whether waterboarding was authorized and whether those who authorized it violated the law."

Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse declined to comment except to say that the department "is reviewing the letter carefully."

The delay in confirming Filip could leave the Justice Department in leadership limbo following a year of internal upheaval and scandal, Mukasey, sworn in as attorney general in November, has made rebuilding the department a top priority for the final 11 months of the Bush administration.

Human Rights Watch, which has been calling on the government to outlaw waterboarding as a form of illegal torture, called Hayden's testimony "an explicit admission of criminal activity."

Joanne Mariner, the group's counterterrorism director, said Hayden's tesitimony "gives the lie" to the administration's claims that the CIA has not used torture. "Waterboarding is torture, and torture is a crime," she said.

Critics say waterboarding has been outlawed under the U.N.'s Convention Against Torture, which prohibits treatment resulting in long-term physical or mental damage. They also say it should be recognized as banned under the U.S. 2006 Military Commissions Act, which prohibits treatment of terror suspects that is described as "cruel, inhuman and degrading." The act, however, does not explicitly prohibit waterboarding by name.

During his own Senate appearance last week, Mukasey refused to declare waterboarding illegal, prompting Democrats to accuse him of potentially allowing the harsh interrogation tactic to be used in the future.

The attorney general said then he has reviewed Justice Department memos about the CIA's interrogation program and concluded that the spy agency doesn't currently engage in waterboarding. Beyond that, Mukasey would not discuss the legality of the classified program for fear of what he described as tipping off U.S. enemies about interrogation methods.

The Justice Department has long resisted exposing the Bush administration and its employees to criminal or civil charges or even international war crimes waterboarding is declared illegal. Hayden said interrogations have been conducted by both intelligence agents and government contractors interrogators but denied that the practice, as he described it, has been outsourced.

"This is a governmental activity under governmental direction and control in which the participant may be both government employees and contractors," he said in an exchange with Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California.

McConnell, the nation's spy chief, said in Tuesday's testimony that waterboarding "taken to its extreme, could be death; you could drown someone." But he, too, refused to declare it illegal in hypothetical cases.

"Everything I know is it is a legal technique used in a specific set of circumstances," McConnell said. "You have to know the circumstances to make a legal judgment," McConnell said.

[liberalme]

The Director of national intelligence Mike McConnell told the Senate Intelligence Committee that he is concerned that al Qaeda in Iraq is shifting its focus to attacks elsewhere in the region, Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2008.

Wow, what a genius this guy is!! Did anyone actually think we either ran them off or killed them?

I think the average American figured out the terrorists were just "regrouping"!

The above waterboarding story is just another typical self thought justification of what our government claims they don''t do, then do, then don''t do--does anyone wonder why we can''t believe a single word they say?

[liberalme]

After terrorism and weapons of mass destruction, McConnell said the threat from cyberattacks to U.S. information systems is the most pressing issue. President Bush signed a classified directive in January outlining steps the federal government is taking to protect its networks.


psssst hey Bin Laden--it''s me emporerG--we gotta be more careful with out email, ya know intrusions and all that stuff hehehe. Remember that email I gave you early in 2001? Do you still have it?
Well lets use that again, just in case you forgot here it [e-mail].
Over and out--hehehe I just love this internet lingo.

[rowdytexan2]

Posted by liberalme at 01:08 PM : Feb 05, 2008

Well said!

[rowdytexan2]

"We used it against these three detainees because of the circumstances at the time," Hayden said during a Senate hearing. "There was the belief that additional catastrophic attacks against the homeland were inevitable. And we had limited knowledge about al Qaeda and its workings. Those two realities have changed."

They didn''t have limited knowledge about Al Queda, that''s horse hockey...

And frankly nothing has changed!

[macusweil]

Who is going to server the time for these war crimes?

[bizzybirdy]

We have become no better than the lowest class of peoples by using torture...what a shame that we have lost our morals, ethics and integrity in war and peace from letting this horrible Nazi like administration continue to ruin our great country. Wake up USA!

[feelfree1]

Re: "We used it against these three detainees because of the circumstances at the time," Hayden said during a Senate hearing. "There was the belief that additional catastrophic attacks against the homeland were inevitable. And we had limited knowledge about al Qaeda and its workings. Those two realities have changed."

Save it for your trial, Mike. Torturing people is a crime.

[rowdytexan2]

Posted by mjlewis6 at 01:37 PM : Feb 05, 2008

We can only hope! I want to see Bush and Cheney lead out of the White House in handcuffs and leg chains. And when The Hague gets through with them, the US Courts need to press for charges of treason and corruption, and contempt for the United States Constitution.

[Krazcarl]

This is a sad a very sad day for americia it was the day we went nazi we lost the high dround were no fifferent than the U.S.S.R we just fly a different *** those W.T.C. bombers hurt us worse than they ever dreamed. Peaple that engage in this behavior can never be trusted they have no principles on the battlefield I''ll give you more space. I thought we had a C.I.A. to find out onfo for us under cover not torturing folks in back rooms. The minute these men were captured plans were changed so there info would be of little value. All this torture we still don''t have Bin....l

[Krazcarl]

I have no idea why they beeped out flag?????

[suzieh2308]

Maybe it''s just me, but considering what these guys did or were planning to do to Americans, who cares what we did to them? I think they lost their basic human rights when they joined such a despicable terrorist organization and planned to murder thousands of innocent people. Burn them alive - who cares, they are scum and don''t deserve any rights, because if when they catch our military personel, and do whatever terrible things they do, I bet their entire country is cheering and not carrying on government trails as to how the enemy was treated!! Focus on something that really matters!!

[inventagod]

I believe if you were to waterboard the NeoCons, you would find out who REALLY planned/executed 9/11.
Start with DickCheney, Wolf0witz and Rumsfeld.

[rowdytexan2]

Posted by Inventagod at 02:08 PM : Feb 05, 2008

Well said!!!

[feelfree1]

suzieh2308,

Re: "I think they lost their basic human rights when they joined such a despicable terrorist organization and planned to murder thousands of innocent people. Burn them alive - who cares, they are scum and don''''t deserve any rights,..."

Then you appear to have surrendered your standing to call anyone else a "terrorist", and you are choosing cowardice over liberty. Your choice.

As long as the Bush regime and their stooges eventually face a war crimes tribunal, firing squad, gallows, or whatever, that''s what is truly important at this point.

[feelfree1]

Inventagod,

Re: "I believe if you were to waterboard the NeoCons, you would find out who REALLY planned/executed 9/11.
Start with DickCheney, Wolf0witz and Rumsfeld."

I''d say that the odds of this are pretty good.

[Krazcarl]

I never in my wildest dreams believed another U.S. president could make Nixon look like a chior boy and respectable....

[rowdytexan2]

Posted by suzieh2308 at 02:06 PM : Feb 05, 2008

Spoken like a true terrorist. Sorry, just hadda say it. That is EXACTLY what terrorists tell themselves every day. We are better people than that!

But even MORE than that...first we need to find out who was REALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR 9/11.

Torturing people only gets them to say what you want to hear. They will say anything to make you stop. Therefore what you get by torturing is not even viable information.

We have been bragging for years that we have the best, most sophisticated intelligence agencies, with the best technology, etc. And yet we seem to be getting the WORST information available, the WORST performance, and now torturing which is against the laws of the country because we signed an agreement with our allies not to do so. And on top of that after 7 years we still have not been given the information on who actually carried out 9/11, nor are they apprehended.

Now either the bragging about our intelligence agencies'' abilities was either just propaganda, or the whole *** bunch of them are just plain worthless.

Which is it?

[myidoncbs]

The face of evil speaks: "considering what these guys did or were planning to do to Americans, who cares what we did to them?"

Where do we even begin with such ign.orant stu.pidity?

1. "what these guys did" -- most of the people we have locked up at guantanamo and elsewhere around the world have done NOTHING. The US went to Afghanistan and told various groups that they''d give $MONEY$ to anyone who turned in "al Qaeda" members. They all conveniently "ratted out" members of opposing groups, and the US rounded them up, declared them to be "al Qaeda", and began torturing them.

2. "or were planning to do to Americans" -- see above. Most of these people weren''t planning to do anything to the USA, though some of them might have been defending their own country against the foreign invaders. Hardly an excuse for torture.

3. "who cares what we did to them?" -- this is the big one! What we do to "them" determines whether we are civilized human beings, or merely violent and immoral animals. Your lack of concern for the plight of other human beings puts you in the latter group.

I find it interesting, to say the least, that many of the people who support this evil war claim to be Christians. Jesus said, "Whatever you do unto the least of these, you do unto me." So, you M-F''s are torturing and murdering Jesus!!! You are all going to H3ll!

[sgtrds]

I don''t care how high up in Al-Qaeda anyone is, the US is NOT supposed to torture anyone! When a nation reverts to torture it harms the nation doing it far more then the person being tortured. It drags our nation down into the mud and filth right along with those we''re supposed to be fighting! We managed to defeat the Nazis and the Japanese without resorting to torture, even though they did it to our troops. Torture is ALWAYS wrong!

[rushlimpdrug]

Could they make a deck of cards with pictures?

The last deck was such a hit!

[inventagod]

Waterboarding is torture.
Torture is a war crime.

Norman Mineta, US Secretary of Transportation, provided testimony that proved Cheney was part of the 9/11 plan/execution. His testimony was deleted from the 9/11 Commission''s report. Why?
http://www.members.shaw.ca/truth914/mineta.html

I say waterboard Cheney first...

[sgtrds]

I say waterboard Cheney first...

Posted by Inventagod at 02:31 PM : Feb 05, 2008

Bush first, but make the slimy pig Fat Bast*ard Cheney watch so he knows what''s coming up for him.

[rowdytexan2]

I wanna know when our CIA and FBI are going to tell us who actually caused and allowed 9/11 to happen!

Their job is to protect this country, not the NEOCON pigs that are ruining it!

[mcvet]

This, without a doubt, has been the most incompetent Administration in US History, bar none. They have done MORE damange to America and it''s goals in the world than anyone or anything... PERIOD! There is NO excuse for Torture but even worse there is NO EXCUSE to hide the reality of what you are doing while LYING to the American People. Sieg Heil Bush!!

[cbs_oliver]

"Hayden said that Khalid Sheik Mohammed - the purported mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States - and Abu Zubayda and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri were subject to the harsh interrogations in 2002 and 2003. Waterboarding is an interrogation technique that critics call torture."

Now we are positioned to arrest people for war crimes or conspiracy to obstruct justice.

Not that it will happen soon.

[inventagod]

I say waterboard Cheney first...

Posted by Inventagod at 02:31 PM : Feb 05, 2008

Bush first, but make the slimy pig Fat Bast*ard Cheney watch so he knows what''''s coming up for him.
Posted by SgtRDS

Bu$h is already braindead - cocaine/alchohol did it''s job on the fratboy - besides, the true NeoCons are DickCheney, Rummy and Wolfy - PNAC traitors thru and thru...

[Krazcarl]

MyIDonCBS....Well spoken...We lost the high ground on 9/11. We have the worst leader in the history of the goverment he will walk away rich and get richer we surrendered our dignity the intelligent amongst are feeling a little naked and embarrassed.

[liberalme]

Maybe it''''s just me, but considering what these guys did or were planning to do to Americans, who cares what we did to them? I think they lost their basic human rights when they joined such a despicable terrorist organization and planned to murder thousands of innocent people. Burn them alive - who cares, they are scum and don''''t deserve any rights, because if when they catch our military personel, and do whatever terrible things they do, I bet their entire country is cheering and not carrying on government trails as to how the enemy was treated!! Focus on something that really matters!!
Posted by suzieh2308

Well suzieq--we like to think the US is above all that gross torture stuff AND we could care less what other countries do or think!
OUR country used to be a nation to be admired and proud of, now with Bush and Co riding roughshod over the White House and this country--we have become what we most detest.

There are two major problems with torture:
First, there is that possibility of innocence or lack of knowledge. Imagine being tortured and you can''t confess because you don''t have answers so they keep on torturing you.
Second, even when torture appears appropriate, it removes the "rules of engagement" and allows for American captives to be tortured.
Somehow, I wish America could have maintained some dignity in this conflict.

[Krazcarl]

dhutch88...2 wrongs don''t make a right didn''t your parents teach you that you have sunk to the level of a terrorist.

[liberalme]

Liberal whinners, should understand that our troops are getting tortured and that smoking weed and hugging trees are not going to get the job done.
Posted by dhutch88

Hey that works for Bush!

[rowdytexan2]

Posted by dhutch88 at 03:15 PM : Feb 05, 2008

Gawd, another Neocon supporter that wants to blame Clinton. When will you people quit whining?

Mr. Clinton rounded up and imprisoned the terrorists who bombed the WTC on his watch, you goofus!

Face it, the idiot son has broken the law and accomplished NOTHING in 7 years!

[stevex47]

dhutch,

If Clinton would have been caught torturing, the nutjobs would have strung him up. Hypocrits.

[andor3]

The US has lost this conflict on so many fronts and the damage is immense. How can anyone not regret that we entered this damaging folly?

Here is just another admission of weakness and defeat--we are so scared of the terrorists we will abandon everything we value.

[notblue]

"We only used it against three detainees" ONLY THREE!!!! Not nearly enough.

[notblue]

All you loser lefties who keep screaming "we''ve lost" Please describe in detail what "losing" is and what would be considered "winning"
1)Taliban ousted from power in Afghanistan=winning
2)Sadam and cronies gone=winning
3) Democratic elections in Afghanistan and Iraq=winning
4)70,000 plus Iraqis returned to Baghdad since september=winning
5)think tanks and even liberal op eds stating the surge is working=winning
6)NO attacks on U.S. soil since 911=winning
7)Osama Bin Laden enjoying life in a cave=winning
8)None of the Democratic debates once mentioned the war on terror, WHY?=winning
9)other middle eastern countries as in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Pakistan, et al fighting against the Jihadists=winning

[inventagod]

Liberal whinners.
Posted by dhutch88

Hitler was a hero to some...
But only those who had no conscience.

[rowdytexan2]

7)Osama Bin Laden enjoying life in a cave=winning

No, no, no, Osama and buds are in a condo in Florida next door to Jeb and the mob.

[rafterman1]

===7)Osama Bin Laden enjoying life in a cave=winning===
posted by notblue

The killer of 3000 Americans is holed up in a cave free somewhere (not dead or in a US jail) and you call that a WIN??!?

[inventagod]

Hmmm - Nancy is right.... CIA don''t wear uniforms...

Of course, this from those who didn''t see 9/11 coming... remember, ''bad intel''???
Why should I believe anything the spooks have to say?

[inventagod]

''Also testifying, FBI Director Robert Mueller said al Qaeda continues to present a "critical threat to the homeland" and warned that "homegrown terrorists" not directly linked to al Qaeda posed a threat as well.''

Maybe the reason the CIA didn''t see 9/11 coming was they weren''t looking at the terrorists in the White House...

[notblue]

Rafterman1,
It''s better than running terrorist training camps in the open while Clinton was president, the Taliban took over during Clintons presidency in Afghanistan and the U.S. took a "wait and see" aproach, kind of like the left is recomending now- retreat and wait and see. That sure worked great in the past but I guess when fighting back, in your opinion, is not a viable alternative then there aren''t many other options.

[myidoncbs]

crzmeat says, "I have no idea why they beeped out flag?????"

Maybe you accidently left out one letter.

[mrvolleyba11]

Clinton rounded up NO ONE "PowdyTexan2", the idiots walked into the Hertz office where they rented the truck to get their deposit back and got busted!!! And as far as somebody elses comment that the terrorist act weren''t enough during Clinton''s area, you need a history lesson! ...Kobar Towers, USS Cole, world trade center bombing, 2 Embassies in Africa. 1,000s killed on his whatch and what did we do, he sent aircraft to bomb emtpy buildings in Iraq when they refused UN WMD inspectors AND after the embassy bombings Mr Clinton launch guided cruise missiles into abandanded terror camps in Afhganistan!!! Clinton was too busy with Monica and token on his wacky weed (even though he doesn''t inhale).

[Krazcarl]

WhyIDonCBS....I was wondering the same thing I''m a one finger typer make plenty of mistakes ask anyone on the blog...

[stevex47]

Taliban ousted? Why are we there then? They are stronger than ever.

Tell us about the ties between Bush and Bin ladens.

Ya, all is good in Afghanistan.

70,000 returned Iraqi''s...Millions still gone, and murdered and raped.

Surge not the reason for lessening violence...Al Sadr toned down and Sunni''s and Shiites hate Al Qaeda, and fight against them.

Bush admin outted CIA agents, yes agents, all who worked for that front company now outted...TREASON.

Tried to sell our ports to who? MIDDLE EAST. Thank goodness someone caught them.

Economy...ha.

Jobs shipped....nice.

gonzales, rumsfeld, foley, craig, hastert, haggard.

Treatment of vets...deplorable.

All lies, all hypocrisy. All incompetent.

[myidoncbs]

notblue is confused:

"1)Taliban ousted from power in Afghanistan=winning"

Not so. They regrouped elsewhere. And afghanistan is now just a bunch of separate tribal fiefdoms, supported by the US, and the Opium is flowing freely.

"2)Sadam and cronies gone=winning"

What did we win? Saddam was OUR guy. We propped him up and gave him weapons to fight Iraq. Then we decided to get rid of him and did so. In the process, we have destroyed Iraq and turned it into a "haven for terrorists". That''s NOT winning!

"3) Democratic elections in Afghanistan and Iraq=winning"

It''s NOT democracy when the people don''t even know who the candidates are before voting, and the ones who conveniently "win" are hand-picked by the US, and then when they turn out not to do our bidding, we install an entirely different government by force, and they only "govern" within the protected walls of our Green Zone, and even then, they won''t give us everything we want.

"4)70,000 plus Iraqis returned to Baghdad since september=winning"

But more than 1 million are dead and will never return, and I don''t know how many millions have left and will never return. That''s not "winning".

"5)think tanks and even liberal op eds stating the surge is working=winning"

Absolute BS! Most of the fighting is between rival factions. We go into an area and give money and weapons to one side, and help them kill the other side, and you think that''s "success"?

... out of space.

[notblue]

myldoncbs,
Have the Taliban retaken the country? NO. are they in charge as before? NO. Are they executing women in the soccer stadium? NO. Is Mulllah Omar in charge or in hiding? IN HIDING what the f**ck are you talking about, why do you purposely ignore these truths??

I realize Sadam was "your guy" but he was not the Iraqis, remember they CONVICTED him of GENOCIDE and hung him

70,000 returned because the surge worked you idiot, even your leftwing writers say so.

out of space, unlike your head there is plenty of space between those ears.

[feelfree1]

Re: "Have the Taliban retaken the country?"

"Afghanistan falling into hands of Taliban"

"Frontline getting closer to Kabul, says thinktank
Aid not going to those who need it most, warns Oxfam"

"The Taliban has a permanent presence in 54% of Afghanistan and the country is in serious danger of falling into Taliban hands, according to a report by an independent thinktank with long experience in the area."

[rowdytexan2]

Posted by notblue at 05:27 PM : Feb 05, 2008

Oh swell, so then we can bring our troops home! All of Bush''s policies have worked and we''ve WON!

Good, now we can bring our troops home and lay of a billion dollars worth of no-bid contractors and security contractors!!!

I''ll buy that! When will they be home?