Calling Waterboarding What It Is: Torture
Former CIA agent John Kiriakou told ABC News that he tortured Abu Zubaydah when he subjected him to waterboarding, but that it was effective because "from that day on, he answered every question... The threat information he provided disrupted a number of attacks, maybe dozens of attacks."
Now we know, perhaps, part of what was on one of the destroyed tapes. Or maybe not: we now have three stories about Zubaydah's role in 9-11 and the nature of his confessions. Read on: I promise it will give you a headache.
First, Kiriakou's justification for waterboarding does not jibe with reports that Zubaydah was mentally ill. Dan Coleman, then the FBI's top al-Qaeda analyst, said, "This guy is insane, certifiable, split personality."
Kevin Drum has more on Ron Suskind's take on Zubaydah, based on what the CIA found in his diary. From the One Percent Doctrine (2007):
The guy is insane, certifiable, split personality," [Dan] Coleman told a top official at FBI after a few days reviewing the Zubaydah haul....There was almost nothing "operational" in his portfolio. That was handled by the management team. He wasn't one of them...."He was like a travel agent, the guy who booked your flights....He was expendable, you know, the greeter....Joe Louis in the lobby of Caesar's Palace, shaking hands.
And here's the third tale. Gerald Posner reports from his 2003 book Why America Slept: The Failure to Prevent 9/11:
"Zubaydah is the only top al Queda operative who has secretly linked two of America's closest allies in the war on terror -- Saudi Arabia and Pakistan -- to the 9/11 attacks." In addition, Posner says: "In a short monologue, that one investigator told me was the 'Rosetta Stone' of 9/11, Zubaydah laid out details of how he and the al Qaeda hierarchy had been supported at high levels inside the Saudi and Pakistan governments." All four men he fingered are now dead. (tip)
Einy, meany, miny, moe? Which story do you think holds water?
What about justiying torture? Kiriakou explained, "We were afraid that there was another major attack coming." That doesn't jibe, either. When was Zubaydah captured? In Pakistan in early 2003. Oh, wait. Kiriakou drank the drums-of-war brand of kool-aid?
Today, Kiriakou thinks waterboarding should be part of the "national debate." Indeed it should. As should all of these conflicting stories about Zubaydah's role in 9-11. Time for hearings, Congress. Maybe a special prosecutor, Mr. Attorney General.
I'll go out on a limb here and predict that there will be a designated jailee or two (like Iran-Contra or Watergate) and that no higher up heads will roll. For more information, see