By Liz Heron
POSTED: 03:08 PM ET, 08/24/2009
Updated 8/25, 7:30 a.m.
Courtesy Of The Washington Post
Annotate the Documents: On Monday, the Department of Justice released additional portions of a long-classified CIA inspector general's report on the agency's interrogation program, along with two other documents that former Vice President Dick Cheney claims will prove the CIA's harsh interrogation tactics worked.
In the coming days, Washington Post reporters will be combing through the documents for new revelations. Join us in identifying the most significant new details and anything that deserves further investigation, and tell us what you've found in the comments section below. Be sure to identify the page(s) to which you're referring, and include specific reasons why the data warrants a closer look. Here is a short guide to the acronyms used in the reports.
Detainee Reporting Pivotal for the War Against Al-Qaeda (PDF)
Khalid Shaykh Muhammad: Preeminent Source on Al-Qaeda (PDF)
Download CIA Inspector General Report (PDF)
Also on Monday, the CIA inspector general who supervised the 2004 report expressed disappointment that DOJ didn't release any version of his recommendations.
The report described early implementation of the CIA's interrogation program in 2002 and 2003 as ad hoc and poorly supervised, leading to the use of "unauthorized, improvised, inhumane and undocumented" techniques, The Post reports.
Other new details (updated 8/24): Unauthorized techniques revealed in page 41 and 42 of the report include the use of a gun and a drill in the the interrogation of al-Nashiri (as reported by Newsweek, etc.), as well as smoke, stress positions, stiff brushes and stepping on shackles.
Interrogators used the gun and drill on al-Nashiri between December 28, 2002 and January 1, 2003.
The debriefer used an unloaded semi-automatic handgun as a prop to frighten Al-Nashiri into disclosing information....Nashiri sat shackled and [he] racked the handgun once or twice close to Al-Nashiri's head. On what was probably the same day, the debriefer used the power drill to frighten Al-Nashiri. With [redacted] consent, the debriefer entered the detainee's cell and revved the drill while the detainee stood naked and hooded. The debriefer did not touch Al-Nashiri with the power drill.
Al-Nashiri was captured in October of 2002, and according to an OLC memo, he was waterboarded two times twelve days into his capture. Prior to the gun and drill incident, the interrogation "assessed him to be 'compliant.' Subsequently, CTC officers at Headquarters [redacted] sent a [redacted] senior operations officer [redacted] to debrief and assess Nashiri."
Also new in the report, on page 45: The IG determined that the interrogators waterboarded Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a manner "inconsistent with the SERE application of the waterboard...According the [CIA] general counsel, the Attorney General acknowledged he is fully aware of the repetitive use of the waterboard and that the CIA is well within the scope of the DoJ opinion and the authority given to CIA by that opinion. The Attorney General was informed the waterboard had been used 119 times on a single individual."
CIA Director Leon E. Panetta, in a message to agency employees Monday morning, described the release of the documents as "in many ways an old story," noting that "the challenge is not the battles of yesterday, but those of today and tomorrow."
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COMMENTS BY THE READERS:
page 127 notes that Zubaydah "does not have any preexisting mental conditions or problems" and page 129 it is noted that "despite his wound, Zubaydah remains quite flexible." that was in october of 2003.
between 2003 and 2007 Zubaydah seems to have drastically changed.
the 2007 transcript of his CSRT (Combatant Status Review Tribunal) hearing--transcript in pdf form can be obtained here: http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Combatant_Tribunals.html-- on page 2 it's noted that he has "some physical health conditions."
reading further, it seems Zubaydah had experienced significant metal and physical deterioration. pages 2 and 12 note his difficulty with speaking. page 22 he claims to be suffering from seizures, the returning effects of a 1992 head injury. pg 24, parts are redacted describing the treatment he received. page 25 is difficult to understand from the transcript; his leg wound seems to still be an issue, he claims to be suffering from memory loss ("holes or injury which I lost memory"), and he mentions having lost a testicle, having problems with his feet, and his right thigh being the the only part of him that is "still good, still strong." page 26 he ends by saying "almost half my body is not good."
comparing these two documents, it would seem that something went very wrong while he was in US custody.
Posted by: reelaesthete | August 26, 2009 4:47 PM
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