Abu Zubaydah: Torture's 'Poster Child'
Published on
Monday, August 29, 2016
by
Consortium News
Abu Zubaydah: Torture's 'Poster Child'
The ugly legacy of George W. Bush's torture program continues to haunt U.S.
foreign policy as the "poster child" for waterboarding, Abu Zubaydah, makes
an appeal for his release from Guantanamo
by
Marjorie Cohn
Abu Zubaydah, a terror detainee who was the first to undergo torture by
waterboarding in secret CIA custody after 9/11, appeared before a Pentagon
panel last week to plead for his release.
Last week, Abu Zubaydah, who has been imprisoned at Guantanamo for 14 years
without being charged with a crime, appeared for the first time before the
U.S. military Periodic Review Board, which determines whether Guantanamo
detainees will continue to be held as "enemy combatants."
Zubaydah argued he should be released because he has "no desire or intent to
harm the United States or any other country." During his hearing, Zubaydah
also said he had been tortured by the CIA, an allegation confirmed by the
Senate Intelligence Committee's torture report. The U.S. government
maintains he is an enemy combatant.
When Zubaydah was apprehended in Pakistan in 2002, the Bush administration
characterized him as "chief of operations" for Al Qaeda and Osama bin
Laden's "number three" man. This was untrue, according to John Kiriakou, who
led the joint CIA-FBI team that caught Zubaydah. Kiriakou confirmed that
Zubaydah did not help plan the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Dan Coleman, a leading FBI expert on Al Qaeda, said Zubaydah "knew very
little about real operations, or strategy." Coleman's observations were
communicated to President George W. Bush. Nevertheless, the President
scolded CIA Director George Tenet, saying, "I said [Zubaydah] was important,
You're not going to let me lose face on this, are you?"
Zubaydah was tortured repeatedly at the "black sites," where the CIA
subjected him to waterboarding 83 times. On one occasion, Zubaydah had to be
resuscitated. An observer at the scene was quoted in the Senate torture
report as saying Zubaydah was "completely unresponsive, with bubbles rising
through his open, full mouth."
In 2005, after the Abu Ghraib torture photos came to light, the CIA
destroyed several hundred hours of videotapes of the interrogations of
Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri. The tapes likely depicted
waterboarding.
Waterboarding is designed, according to Bush lawyer (now federal judge) Jay
Bybee, to induce the perception of "suffocation and incipient panic," i.e.
the perception of drowning.
The Bush administration claimed it only used waterboarding on three
individuals (the third being alleged 9/11 organizer Khalid Sheikh Mohammed).
But a footnote in one of Bush lawyer Stephen Bradbury's memos says
waterboarding was utilized "with far greater frequency than initially
indicated" with "large volumes of water" rather than small quantities as
required by the CIA's rules.
The CIA also withheld Zubaydah's medication (as he recovered from severe
injuries), slammed him into a wall, threatened him with impending death,
shackled him in uncomfortable positions, and bombarded him with continuous
deafening noise and harsh lights.
In one of his memos, Bybee wrote that the CIA told him, "Zubaydah does not
have any pre-existing mental conditions or problems that would make him
likely to suffer prolonged mental harm from [the CIA's] proposed
interrogation methods."
Coffin-like Box
Bybee granted the CIA's request to confine Zubaydah in a cramped box with a
harmless insect and tell him it will sting him but it won't kill him. Even
though the CIA knew that Zubaydah had an irrational fear of insects, Bybee
decided there would be no threat of severe physical pain or suffering if it
followed this procedure.
"[Zubaydah] spent a total of 266 hours (11 days, 2 hours) in the large
(coffin size) confinement box and 29 hours in a small confinement box, which
had the width of 21 inches, a depth of 2.5 feet, and a height of 2.5 feet,"
according to the Senate torture report.
The torture of Zubaydah did not yield useful information. FBI agent Ali
Soufan, who interrogated him, wrote in the New York Times that any useful
information Zubaydah provided was given before the "enhanced interrogation
techniques" - Bush-speak for torture - were used.
In response to the torture, Zubaydah told his interrogators that Al Qaeda
was planning terrorist attacks against the Brooklyn Bridge, Statute of
Liberty, shopping malls, banks, water systems, supermarkets, nuclear plants
and apartment buildings. He said Al Qaeda was close to building a crude
nuclear bomb. None of this was ever corroborated.
The Torture Statute punishes conduct, or conspiracy to engage in conduct,
specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or
suffering. "Severe mental pain or suffering" means the prolonged mental harm
caused by or resulting from either the intentional infliction or threatened
infliction of severe physical pain or suffering, or from the threat of
imminent death.
It is undisputed that waterboarding constitutes torture, which is considered
a war crime under the U.S. War Crimes Act. Cruel, inhuman and degrading
treatment is also outlawed by the Convention Against Torture and Other
Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, a treaty the United
States has ratified.
Despite his constitutional duty to "take care that the laws be faithfully
executed," President Barack Obama refuses to bring the Bush officials who
tortured Zubaydah and others to justice.
Donald Trump has pledged to keep Guantanamo open and advocates a resumption
of waterboarding. Indeed, he promised a Trump administration would "bring
back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding."
Hillary Clinton opposes waterboarding. She said torture is an "open
recruitment poster for more terrorists," and "over the years, Guantanamo has
inspired more terrorists than it has imprisoned."
Meanwhile, Zubaydah languishes at Guantanamo, with no hope of release.
Joseph Margulies, one of Zubaydah's lawyers, said his client is "the poster
child for the torture program, and that's why they never want him to be
heard from again."
C 2016 Consortium News
Marjorie Cohn
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Abu Zubaydah: Torture's 'Poster Child'
Published on
Monday, August 29, 2016
by
Consortium News
Abu Zubaydah: Torture's 'Poster Child'
The ugly legacy of George W. Bush's torture program continues to haunt U.S.
foreign policy as the "poster child" for waterboarding, Abu Zubaydah, makes
an appeal for his release from Guantanamo
by
Marjorie Cohn
. 3 Comments
.
. Abu Zubaydah, a terror detainee who was the first to undergo torture
by waterboarding in secret CIA custody after 9/11, appeared before a
Pentagon panel last week to plead for his release.
. Last week, Abu Zubaydah, who has been imprisoned at Guantanamo for
14 years without being charged with a crime, appeared for the first time
before the U.S. military Periodic Review Board, which determines whether
Guantanamo detainees will continue to be held as "enemy combatants."
. Zubaydah argued he should be released because he has "no desire or
intent to harm the United States or any other country." During his hearing,
Zubaydah also said he had been tortured by the CIA, an allegation confirmed
by the Senate Intelligence Committee's torture report. The U.S. government
maintains he is an enemy combatant.
. When Zubaydah was apprehended in Pakistan in 2002, the Bush
administration characterized him as "chief of operations" for Al Qaeda and
Osama bin Laden's "number three" man. This was untrue, according to John
Kiriakou, who led the joint CIA-FBI team that caught Zubaydah. Kiriakou
confirmed that Zubaydah did not help plan the September 11, 2001 attacks.
. Dan Coleman, a leading FBI expert on Al Qaeda, said Zubaydah "knew
very little about real operations, or strategy." Coleman's observations were
communicated to President George W. Bush. Nevertheless, the President
scolded CIA Director George Tenet, saying, "I said [Zubaydah] was important,
You're not going to let me lose face on this, are you?"
http://www.commondreams.org/where-we-are-goinghttp://www.commondreams.org/wh
ere-we-are-going
Zubaydah was tortured repeatedly at the "black sites," where the CIA
subjected him to waterboarding 83 times. On one occasion, Zubaydah had to be
resuscitated. An observer at the scene was quoted in the Senate torture
report as saying Zubaydah was "completely unresponsive, with bubbles rising
through his open, full mouth."
In 2005, after the Abu Ghraib torture photos came to light, the CIA
destroyed several hundred hours of videotapes of the interrogations of
Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri. The tapes likely depicted
waterboarding.
Waterboarding is designed, according to Bush lawyer (now federal judge) Jay
Bybee, to induce the perception of "suffocation and incipient panic," i.e.
the perception of drowning.
The Bush administration claimed it only used waterboarding on three
individuals (the third being alleged 9/11 organizer Khalid Sheikh Mohammed).
But a footnote in one of Bush lawyer Stephen Bradbury's memos says
waterboarding was utilized "with far greater frequency than initially
indicated" with "large volumes of water" rather than small quantities as
required by the CIA's rules.
The CIA also withheld Zubaydah's medication (as he recovered from severe
injuries), slammed him into a wall, threatened him with impending death,
shackled him in uncomfortable positions, and bombarded him with continuous
deafening noise and harsh lights.
In one of his memos, Bybee wrote that the CIA told him, "Zubaydah does not
have any pre-existing mental conditions or problems that would make him
likely to suffer prolonged mental harm from [the CIA's] proposed
interrogation methods."
Coffin-like Box
Bybee granted the CIA's request to confine Zubaydah in a cramped box with a
harmless insect and tell him it will sting him but it won't kill him. Even
though the CIA knew that Zubaydah had an irrational fear of insects, Bybee
decided there would be no threat of severe physical pain or suffering if it
followed this procedure.
"[Zubaydah] spent a total of 266 hours (11 days, 2 hours) in the large
(coffin size) confinement box and 29 hours in a small confinement box, which
had the width of 21 inches, a depth of 2.5 feet, and a height of 2.5 feet,"
according to the Senate torture report.
The torture of Zubaydah did not yield useful information. FBI agent Ali
Soufan, who interrogated him, wrote in the New York Times that any useful
information Zubaydah provided was given before the "enhanced interrogation
techniques" - Bush-speak for torture - were used.
In response to the torture, Zubaydah told his interrogators that Al Qaeda
was planning terrorist attacks against the Brooklyn Bridge, Statute of
Liberty, shopping malls, banks, water systems, supermarkets, nuclear plants
and apartment buildings. He said Al Qaeda was close to building a crude
nuclear bomb. None of this was ever corroborated.
The Torture Statute punishes conduct, or conspiracy to engage in conduct,
specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or
suffering. "Severe mental pain or suffering" means the prolonged mental harm
caused by or resulting from either the intentional infliction or threatened
infliction of severe physical pain or suffering, or from the threat of
imminent death.
It is undisputed that waterboarding constitutes torture, which is considered
a war crime under the U.S. War Crimes Act. Cruel, inhuman and degrading
treatment is also outlawed by the Convention Against Torture and Other
Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, a treaty the United
States has ratified.
Despite his constitutional duty to "take care that the laws be faithfully
executed," President Barack Obama refuses to bring the Bush officials who
tortured Zubaydah and others to justice.
Donald Trump has pledged to keep Guantanamo open and advocates a resumption
of waterboarding. Indeed, he promised a Trump administration would "bring
back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding."
Hillary Clinton opposes waterboarding. She said torture is an "open
recruitment poster for more terrorists," and "over the years, Guantanamo has
inspired more terrorists than it has imprisoned."
Meanwhile, Zubaydah languishes at Guantanamo, with no hope of release.
Joseph Margulies, one of Zubaydah's lawyers, said his client is "the poster
child for the torture program, and that's why they never want him to be
heard from again."
C 2016 Consortium News
