Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

Inside the CIA Torturers' Heads

Post: Higher-ups pushed interrogators for harsher methods than they wanted

By Katherine Thompson,  Newser Staff

Posted Jul 19, 2009 11:40 AM CDT
Email

(Newser) – The FBI was already getting information out of a suspected terrorist in a series of relatively friendly interrogations in 2002 when the CIA stepped in, a former US official tells the Washington Post. Agency contract psychologists escalated the techniques to sleep deprivation, extreme cold, and waterboarding, which the FBI interrogators called "borderline torture." Then, CIA higher-ups escalated the process further.

Even after the CIA psychologists considered their suspect to have given up all he knew, CIA headquarters demanded 30 more days of waterboarding. "You've lost your spine," they told the team, which threatened to quit if officials didn't come to Bangkok to observe the process themselves. After watching a single interrogation session, officials immediately called a halt to the process.

Protestors demonstrate the use of waterboarding on a volunteer in front of the Justice Department in Washington in this Nov. 5, 2007, file photo.
Protestors demonstrate the use of waterboarding on a volunteer in front of the Justice Department in Washington in this Nov. 5, 2007, file photo.   (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, file)
A new document indicates the CIA first proposed to top Bush administration officials in mid-May 2002 that alleged al-Qaida terrorist Abu Zubaydah be submitted to waterboarding.
A new document indicates the CIA first proposed to top Bush administration officials in mid-May 2002 that alleged al-Qaida terrorist Abu Zubaydah be submitted to waterboarding.   (AP Photo/U.S. Central Command, File)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
To report an error on this story, notify our editors.
A snapshot of the day's best news stories.
 
COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 5 comments
Snarfeh
Jul 20, 2009 2:38 AM CDT
@JonmarkP: "Only a defective person tortures animals or humans." Brings Jeffrey Dahmer to mind....
NxBigmouthery
Jul 19, 2009 9:45 AM CDT
*Waits for 'Bush kept us safe' fallacy, 'you sympathize with terrrrrssss' bullshit and the inevitable howls of the hollow, but now classic 'liberal fascists'.*
JonmarkP
Jul 19, 2009 9:25 AM CDT
They're all guilty, top to bottom. How many of the "lowly spooks" said, "No. To torture is sub-human. Only a defective person tortures animals or humans. You want this done, come do it yourself." We should prosecute them from the top down. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice and Yoo first, then down the line to the very bottom. We have to cleanse the pus out of this infected wound, or it will never heal.
Politics • US • World

 
CIA • torture • FBI • sleep deprivation • waterboarding • terror suspects • al-Qaeda • psychologist • enhanced interrogation techniques

More Newser Stories

USS Cole Terrorist Faces Capital Charges Again

CIA Interrogators Deserve Thanks, Not Punishment

Torture 'Apologists' Are Wrong: It's Never Justified

Torture Played ‘Small Role’ in bin Laden Hunt

Gitmo Doctors Covered Up Torture: Study
NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS
Other Sites We Like:   24/7 Wall St.   |   Betty Confidential   |   BuzzFeed   |   Cracked   |   Fark   |   Timelines   |   The Frisky   |   Geek Sugar   |   NewsOne