Waterboarding 'greenlit at top levels of power'
by Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
Guardian Unlimited (UK) - December 11, 2007
The White House today was directly accused of
authorising the waterboarding of al-Qaida suspects,
putting President George Bush at the centre of a
deepening controversy about the treatment of detainees.
The charge from John Kiriakou, a former CIA official
involved in the capture of senior al-Qaida operatives,
comes at a time when the Bush administration is trying
to contain a row over the destruction of hundreds of
hours of video footage of the interrogation of a high-
level al-Qaida suspect, Abu Zubaydah.
Kiriakou, who spent 14 years in the CIA, was directly
involved in the capture of Zubaydah, the first detainee
in the war on terror. He first met the detainee in a
Pakistani military hospital, where Zubaydah, was
recovering from gunshot wounds.
The suspect was later taken to a secret CIA prison for
interrogation and where he is believed to have been
subjected to waterboarding.
"This isn't something done willy nilly. This isn't
something where an agency officer just wakes up in the
morning and decides he's going to carry out an enhanced
technique on a prisoner" Kiriakou told NBC television
this morning.
"This was a policy made at the White House, with
concurrence from the National Security Council and
justice department."
The comments put President Bush at the centre of a row
that erupted last week after the CIA director, General
Michael Hayden, wrote a letter to employees revealing
that the agency had destroyed hundreds of hours of
videotape of the interrogation of Zubaydah.
Mr Bush told ABC television today he was unaware of the
tapes suspects.
"My first recollection of whether the tapes existed or
whether they were destroyed was when Michael Hayden
briefed me," Mr Bush told ABC.
"There's a preliminary inquiry going on and I think
you'll find that a lot more data, facts will be coming
out."
The first phase of that process got underway today as
Hayden began two days of closed hearings before
Congress about the agency's decision to destroy the
tapes.
The justice department and the CIA inspector generals'
office have also begun investigations into the
destruction of the footage, showing the interrogation
of Zubaydah and another al-Qaida operative. There is
also growing pressure for the appointment of a special
counsel.
The destruction of the footage in 2005 has raised
questions about whether the CIA obstructed the work of
the commission investigating the 9/11 attacks which had
asked repeatedly for such documentation, and had been
told it did not exist.
Hayden also said Congress was informed of the
destruction. However, Silvestre Reyes, the chairman of
the Democratic intelligence committee, and Peter
Hoekstra, the senior Republican on the committee, said
that was not true.
Kiriakou did not say how he knew that the coercive
interrogations had been authorised. However, he said
that CIA agents were required to offer a "well thought
out reason" any time they wished to use waterboarding.
In the case of Zubaydah, he told ABC news yesterday
that the waterboarding had an immediate effect. The al-
Qaida detainee began talking within 35 seconds,
providing information that Kiriacou claims disrupted
dozens of planned attacks.
"It was like flipping a switch," the former CIA
official told ABC news. "He said that Allah had come to
him in his cell and told him to cooperate, because it
would make things easier for his brothers."
The White House has been adamant that certain "enhanced
interrogation" techniques deployed by the CIA - but
barred for use by the US military - do not amount to
torture.
"It's no secret that the president approved a lawful
programme in order to interrogate hardened terrorists,"
the White House spokeswoman, Dana Perino, said today.
"We do not torture. We also know that this programme
has saved lives by disrupting terrorist attacks."
The vice-president, Dick Cheney, has specifically
defended the practice of waterboarding, telling a radio
programme last year it was a "no-brainer" if it could
save lives.
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