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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: Abu Zubaydah

Abu Zubaydah stories: 18 news summaries

 Gitmo Prisoners: 
 We Lied to CIA 
 to Stop Torture 

Khalid Mohammed 'made up stories' on bin Laden's whereabouts after torture

Jun 16, 09 1:44 AM CDT
(Newser) - Guantanamo prisoners fabricated information to give CIA interrogators after being physically and mentally abused, they told a 2007 military tribunal in transcripts released yesterday under the Freedom of Information act. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, self-proclaimed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks and one of the prisoners who was repeatedly waterboarded, said he... More »

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War on Terror • CIA • ACLU • Guantanamo Bay • Khalid Sheikh Mohammed • interrogation techniques • Abu Zubaydah • harsh interrogation

 CIA Told Pelosi About 
 Waterboarding: Report 

Newly released documents show speaker was briefed in 2002

May 8, 09 6:16 AM CDT
(Newser) - Nancy Pelosi and other Congressional leaders received multiple briefings on the CIA's use of waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques, according to new information released by the Obama administration. Records suggest that Pelosi learned of the CIA's interrogation of Abu Zubaydah in a September 2002 briefing that covered the "... More »

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Nancy Pelosi • CIA • torture • congressional Democrats • waterboarding • Jay Rockefeller • House Democrats • Abu Zubaydah • harsh interrogation

ANALYSIS

Waterboarding Isn't Easier 2nd Time, or 183rd

Turns out the body never gets used to simulated drowning

Apr 24, 09 2:39 PM CDT
(Newser) - Like many other forms of torture, waterboarding doesn’t get any easier with repeated exposure. After multiple sessions of the simulated drowning technique, accused al-Qaeda plotters Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Abu Zubaydah would at best have been able to slightly modify their response, explains Brian Palmer in Slate. The experience... More »

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CIA • torture • Guantanamo Bay • Khalid Sheikh Mohammed • intestines • waterboarding • Abu Zubaydah • detainees • torture memo

(Newser) - President Obama says the harsh interrogation methods used by the CIA both compromised American values and provided unreliable information. “Those are a convenient pair of opinions,” notes Scott Shane of the New York Times. But it's not going to be that easy for the new administration to... More »

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Bush administration • Barack Obama • Dick Cheney • CIA • torture • Khalid Sheikh Mohammed • Abu Zubaydah • harsh interrogation

 Condi Was 
 First to OK 
 Waterboarding 

Condi gave go-ahead before Rumsfeld, Powell even knew about it: Senate

Apr 23, 09 2:39 AM CDT
(Newser) - Condoleezza Rice played a greater role than she has acknowledged in the CIA's harsh interrogation program, and approved the use of waterboarding, according to a newly released report from the Senate Intelligence Committee. The report finds that Rice, as national security adviser, verbally approved the CIA's request to waterboard a... More »

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Bush administration • Condoleezza Rice • Senate Intelligence Committee • waterboarding • Abu Zubaydah • harsh interrogation • torture memo

 CIA Waterboarded Gitmo 
 Detainee 183 Times in a Month 

That's twice CIA's max, challenges efficacy

Apr 19, 09 11:38 AM CDT
(Newser) - A Department of Justice memo that detailed interrogation techniques used on prisoners at Guantanamo Bay notes that in August 2002, suspected al-Qaeda official Abu Zubaydah was waterboarded 82 times, while the following March, 9/11 suspect Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded 183 times. But as the blog Emptywheel points out, there's... More »

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CIA • torture • Guantanamo Bay • Khalid Sheikh Mohammed • waterboarding • Abu Zubaydah • memo

Psychologists, Doctors Helped With Interrogations

Role of medical professionals in CIA program angers peers

Apr 18, 09 10:19 AM CDT
(Newser) - Psychologists and physicians who assisted the CIA's harsh interrogation program are being accused of violating the most basic principles of their professions, the Washington Post reports. The newly released CIA memos confirm that on-site psychologists—generally contract workers with the agency—took an active role in the program, offering ideas... More »

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CIA • International Committee of the Red Cross • interrogation techniques • Abu Zubaydah • harsh interrogation • psychologist • medical ethics • torture memo

CIA Pushed Brutal Tactics
on Interrogators

Captors felt al-Qaeda suspect had already
told all he knew

Apr 18, 09 5:51 AM CDT
(Newser) - Higher-ups in the CIA pressed for harsh interrogation methods to be used on a captured al-Qaeda member despite his interrogators' assurances that he had nothing more to tell, the New York Times reports. Abu Zubaydah had already yielded important information, including tips that led to 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shiekh Mohammed,... More »

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War on Terror • CIA • torture • interrogation techniques • Abu Zubaydah • harsh interrogation • torture memo

US Ends Trials of 5 Gitmo Prisoners

Though charges are dropped, men are still held, may be retried

Oct 22, 08 10:24 AM CDT
(Newser) - The war crimes tribunal at Guantanamo Bay has dropped charges against five suspects that the Pentagon has called al-Qaeda operatives, reports the Los Angeles Times. All of the men were fingered by Abu Zubaydah, a Saudi-born militant whom the Bush administration concedes was waterboarded. The charges were dismissed after one... More »

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Barack Obama • John McCain • enemy combatants • Guantanamo Bay • Abu Zubaydah • al-Qaeda • Guantanamo tribunals • war crimes tribunal

Lawyers Declare Innocence of Waterboarding Victim

Gitmo detainee 'was never in al Qaeda'

Mar 18, 08 11:40 AM CDT
(Newser) - Guantanamo detainee Abu Zubaydah isn’t a member of al Qaeda or the Taliban, his lawyers contend, and he’s never tried to harm American citizens. Held in CIA secret prisons and waterboarded, Zubaydah wasn’t given anything “that would satisfy even the most basic notions of due process,... More »

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CIA • terrorism • secret prisons • Guantanamo Bay • Guantanamo prisoners • waterboarding • Abu Zubaydah

New Claims of Taped CIA Torture

Lawyers to present evidence to Senate panel

Feb 7, 08 4:38 AM CST
(Newser) - Evidence that another CIA detainee was videotaped allegedly being tortured by interrogators is expected to be presented to the Senate Intelligence Committee tomorrow, reports Time magazine. A former suburban Baltimore high school student underwent unspecified "systematic torture" that may have involved waterboarding in a secret CIA prison in 2003,... More »

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torture • Majid Khan • secret prisons • Khalid Sheikh Mohammed • black sites • videotape • waterboarding • Abu Zubaydah • harsh interrogation • hunger strike

Senate Grills Mukasey
Today on Waterboarding

Mukasey warns he'll stonewall on questions about legality

Jan 30, 08 3:43 AM CST
(Newser) - A high-noon face off is looming today between Attorney General Michael Mukasey and the Senate Judiciary Committee over waterboarding, the simulated drowning interrogation technique that many consider torture. Committee chair Patrick Leahy said Mukasey faces "serious questions" on the issue at today's hearing. But Mukasey has warned Leahy in... More »

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CIA • torture • Department of Justice • Attorney General • Senate Judiciary Committee • interrogation • Michael Mukasey • waterboarding • interrogation techniques • Abu Zubaydah • Military Commissions Act • Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri

CIA 'Gulled' Court on Torture Tapes, Says Judge

May quiz officials himself

Jan 18, 08 5:25 AM CST
(Newser) - A federal judge said he suspects the CIA lied to his court about tapes showing the harsh interrogations of two al-Qaeda leaders, the New York Times reports. The CIA claims no records exist concerning the tapes, which were destroyed in 2005. But the judge, currently deciding a Freedom of Information... More »

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CIA • torture • ACLU • Freedom of Information Act • Abu Zubaydah • interrogation tapes • Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein • Office of the Inspector General • al-Qaeda • Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri

CIA Tapes Were Made—and Destroyed—for PR

Interrogations filmed to counter mistreatment accusations; stopped when techniques grew harsh, reports NYT

Dec 30, 07 1:30 PM CST
(Newser) - Concern over its image prompted the CIA to first secretly create—and later destroy—tapes depicting the harsh interrogation of detainees, the New York Times reports. In spring 2002 the agency decided to document every moment of senior al-Qaeda operative Abu Zubaydah's custody so that perceptions of mistreatment—by prosecutors,... More »

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CIA • torture • Abu Ghraib • waterboarding • interrogation techniques • interrogations • Abu Zubaydah • CIA videotapes • al-Qaeda

House Subpoenas
Top Ex-Spy

Lawmakers seek explanation for why he had tapes destroyed

Dec 21, 07 4:20 AM CST
(Newser) - The former head of the CIA's clandestine service has been subpoenaed to testify about the destruction of  videotapes of the harsh interrogations of two al-Qaeda suspects. The subpoena for Jose Rodriguez was issued after the House Intelligence Committee staff studied documents on the interrogations that the CIA had surrendered to... More »

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CIA • Michael Hayden • Abu Zubaydah • House Intelligence Committee • harsh interrogation • Jose A. Rodriguez • Silvestre P. Reyes • al-Qaeda • George W. Bush • Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri

House Passes Ban on CIA Waterboarding

Interrogations must meet Geneva  standards under bill

Dec 13, 07 3:20 PM CST
(Newser) - The House of Representatives today approved a bill that would forbid the CIA from using harsh interrogation methods, including waterboarding, Reuters reports. The measure follows revelations that the agency destroyed tapes showing al Qaeda suspects subjected to simulated drowning. But the bill still has to pass the Senate, and has... More »

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Congress • CIA • torture • Geneva Convention • waterboarding • Abu Zubaydah • CIA videotapes

Dems Demand Probe Over
CIA Tapes

Kennedy draws Nixon comparison; others see obstruction of justice

Dec 7, 07 3:06 PM CST
(Newser) - Democrats accused the CIA of a cover-up today in the wake of the revelation that the agency destroyed interrogation tapes and called for the attorney general to investigate. Ted Kennedy rejected the agency's excuse that it scrubbed the tapes to protect interrogators and suggested the censors merely knew how “... More »

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CIA • Ted Kennedy • Michael Hayden • 9/11 commission • interrogations • Abu Zubaydah • Porter Goss

CIA Destroyed Videos of Interrogations

Move could raise obstruction-of-justice issues for agency

Dec 6, 07 6:04 PM CST
(Newser) - The CIA destroyed in 2005 videotapes showing the harsh interrogation of at least two terrorism suspects, the New York Times reports. The destruction could raise serious legal issues if the CIA is shown to have withheld tapes from federal prosecutors and the 9/11 commission. The tapes included the 2002 questioning... More »

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CIA • Michael Hayden • Porter J. Goss • interrogations • Abu Zubaydah • al-Qaeda

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