Shrink Waterboard 'Experts' Racked Up $1K a Day

Operation's architects lacked training in conducting interrogations, say CIS records

By Mary Papenfuss, Newser Staff

Posted May 1, 2009 4:13 AM CDT

(Newser) – Two US psychologists with no training in conducting interrogations boasted of earning $1000 a day designing and helping to implement use of waterboarding techniques on CIA detainees, reports ABC News. Bruce Jessen and Jim Mitchell, former military officers, are considered the architects of the interrogation operation that Barack Obama has labeled torture.

The CIA later discovered that the pair's waterboarding "expertise" was likely "misrepresented," raising serious concerns about whether the method was safe or effective, according to agency documents obtained by ABC. The men, who operate their private firm Mitchell Jessen and Associates out of Spokane, Wash., refused to comment.

[Images (3)]

[Videos (1)]

Iraq war protesters perform a waterboarding demonstration. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

A demonstrator against the Iraq War re-enacts waterboarding across from the White House last year. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Protesters against the war in Iraq perform a demonstration of waterboarding across from the White House last year. (AP Photo/Michael Graae)

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

ABC News tracks down waterboarding 'architects' who had no training in conducting interrogations before they were hired to design and implement the operation. (MyARRP)

View larger videos >>

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next »

To report an error on this story, notify our editors.

More Newser Stories

CIA Kept Secret Prison in Bucharest Neighborhood

AP investigation uncovers details of black site in Romania

(NEWSER) - The CIA's secret "black site" prison in Romania wasn't in some remote region of the country, but smack dab in the middle of a busy residential neighborhood near the center of Bucharest, the AP has discovered in a joint investigation with German public television. Sources say the prison was located in the basement of the building housing Romania's National Registry Office for Classified Information, aka ORNISS—although a senior ORNISS official denied that, saying, "No, no. Impossible, impossible." More»

USS Cole Terrorist Faces Capital Charges Again

Original charges were dropped because suspect was tortured

(NEWSER) - One of the "high-value" detainees imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay has been charged with planning the 2000 terrorist attack on the USS Cole in Yemen that killed 17 US sailors, reports the LA Times . Abd al Rahim al Nashiri, a Saudi of Yemeni descent, faces the death penalty if convicted of planning and orchestrating the attack on the Cole as it was docked in a Yemeni harbor. More»

Judge Lets Army Vet Sue Rumsfeld Over Detention

American contractor says defense sec approved his detention, torture in Iraq

(AP) - An Army vet who says he was imprisoned unjustly and tortured by the US military in Iraq can sue former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld personally for damages, a judge ruled yesterday. The veteran, a private contractor who worked as a Marine translator in the volatile Anbar province, says he was repeatedly abused while detained for nine months at Camp Cropper. Lawyers for the man, who is in his 50s, say he was preparing to come home to the United States on annual leave when he was abducted by the US military and held without justification while his family knew nothing about his whereabouts or even whether he was still alive. More»

US to Investigate Deaths of Two Detainees

Holder orders pair of inquiries but drops nearly 100 others

(NEWSER) - The is-it-torture debate is probably going to rev up again: The Justice Department says it will launch criminal inquiries into the deaths of two detainees in US custody in 2002 and 2003, reports the Washington Post . Eric Holder gave the green light on the recommendation of federal prosecutor John Durham, who has been looking into CIA interrogations for two years now. Durham, however, said no charges were warranted in 99 other cases. More»

Torture Didn't Lead Us to bin Laden

The practice is Un-American and must stop: John McCain

(NEWSER) - Some have used the death of Osama bin Laden as evidence to support the use of torture—but claims that such techniques led us to the al-Qaeda leader are simply not true, writes John McCain in the Washington Post . The senator points to former attorney general Michael Mukasey’s assertion that, under “harsh interrogation techniques,” Guantanamo prisoner Khalid Sheikh Mohammed revealed the name “of a trusted courier of bin Laden.” “That is false,” McCain writes. More»

NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS

What is Newser?

Face it: there's too much news. At Newser, we choose the most thought-provoking and entertaining stories from hundreds of US and international sources and reduce them to a headline, picture, and two paragraphs. And we do it 24/7—you can come back morning, noon, night (and in between) for something new that matters. Read less, know more.

Learn more »

Partnering with: Slate

View Newser on the mobile website

Shrink Waterboard 'Experts' Racked Up $1K a Day