delete, please

[Stuart G]

Source: Huffington Post, Empty Story

I've put this detail in a series of posts, but it really deserves a full post. According to the May 30, 2005 Bradbury memo, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded 183 times in March 2003 and Abu Zubaydah was waterboarded 83 times in August 2002.

On page 37 of the OLC memo, in a passage discussing the differences between SERE techniques and the torture used with detainees, the memo explains:

The CIA used the waterboard "at least 83 times during August 2002" in the interrogation of Zubaydah. IG Report at 90, and 183 times during March 2003 in the interrogation of KSM, see id. at 91.

Note, the information comes from the CIA IG report which, in the case of Abu Zubaydah, is based on having viewed the torture tapes as well as other materials. So this is presumably a number that was once backed up by video evidence.

The same OLC memo passage explains how the CIA might manage to waterboard these men so many times in one month each (though even with these chilling numbers, the CIA's math doesn't add up).


also at empyty wheel, firedoglake.com

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/04/18/khalid-sheikh-mohammed-was-waterboarded-183-times-in-one-month/

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

[Democracyinkind]

1. We used to do that in college all the time.

speak of a can of worms...

[yy4me]

2. There is no justifiable excuse for this. Are our interrogators

savages? 5 times in one day? Torture even once is too much.
To all involved in this horror, do not say you do it in my name or that of millions of Americans. I am ashamed.

[jimshoes]

3. And just what actionable information did these interrogators get

for waterboarding this fellow just over 6 times a day?

[hfojvt]

4. Mohammed

But are the American people really gonna want to see people prosecuted for torturing the "mastermind behind 9/11"?

[Doctor_J]

5. Released on the same day that Rahm declares "no prosecution"

This pretty much paves the way for any law enforcement agency at any level to torture people. Welcome to the police state.