CIA admits to waterboarding
Michael Hayden claimed the technique was used shortly after the September 11th attacks
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Tuesday, 05, Feb 2008 07:46
The CIA has admitted using the controversial interrogation technique known as waterboarding.
Michael Hayden, the CIA director, told the US Congress today that it had been used on three terror suspects shortly after September 11th 2001.
The suspects were named as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri.
The men were believed to be high profile al-Qaida members.
Mr Hayden's revelations are the first time the CIA has publicly admitted to using the highly controversial method of interrogation.
He said that the technique had been used because of fears of a fresh terrorist strike by al-Qaida, following the attack on the Twin Towers.
Waterboarding has attracted widespread criticism with many claiming it to be a form of torture.
Inmates are subjected to conditions that lead them to believe they are going to drown.
"We used it against these three detainees because of the circumstances at the time," the CIA director said.
"There was the belief that additional catastrophic attacks against the homeland were inevitable. And we had limited knowledge about al-Qaida and its workings.
"Those two realities have changed."
At the hearing Mr Hayden also said that he feared al-Qaida in Iraq may mount attacks outside the country.