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Planner of 9/11 attacks waterboarded 183 times: NYT

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-04-21 09:20

WASHINGTON: CIA interrogators used the waterboarding technique on Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the admitted planner of the Sept 11 attacks, 183 times and 83 times on another Al-Qaida suspect, The New York Times said on Sunday.

In this photo, reviewed by the US Military, leg shackles are seen on the floor at Camp 6 detention center, at the US Naval Base, in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, January 21, 2009. [Agencies]

The Times said a 2005 Justice Department memorandum showed that Abu Zubaydah, the first prisoner questioned in the CIA's overseas detention program in August 2002, was waterboarded 83 times, although a former CIA officer had told news media he had been subjected to only 35 seconds underwater before talking.

Related readings:  White House memos endorsed CIA waterboarding: report  Waterboarding an attraction at amusement park  Bush vetoes waterboarding bill

President Barack Obama has banned the use of waterboarding, overturning a Bush administration policy that it did not constitute torture.

The Justice Department memo said the simulated drowning technique was used on Mohammed 183 times in March 2003. The Times said some copies of the memos appeared to have the number of waterboardings redacted while others did not.

The Senate Intelligence Committee is investigating the CIA interrogation program, which under President George W. Bush also included slamming prisoners into walls, shackling them in uncomfortable positions and depriving them of sleep.

Bush administration officials had claimed such methods were needed to get information but the repeated use of the waterboard on Zubaydah and Mohammed were sure to raise questions about its effectiveness.

On Jan 21, 2009 the White House announced that President Obama had signed an order to suspend the proceedings of the Guantanamo military commission for 120 days and that the detention facility would be shut down within the year.[

Reuters