Khalid Shaikh Mohammed Was Waterboarded 183 Times, Blogger Discovers
After digging through the newly-disclosed Office of Legal Counsel memos, my friend Marcy Wheeler of Firedoglake discovered that CIA interrogators waterboarded
Jul 31, 2020164.9K Shares5.1M Views
After digging through the newly-disclosed Office of Legal Counsel memos, my friend Marcy Wheeler of Firedoglake discoveredthat CIA interrogators waterboarded 9/11 architect Khalid Shaikh Mohammed 183 times in one month. The New York Times piece that follows uptoday appropriately acknowledges Marcy’s discovery. (Full disclosure: my personal blog is hosted by FDL.) Marcy’s keen eye for close reading deserves widespread praise.
One thing, substantively: I’ve seen some people mock the ideathat what the memos show is actually indicative of a torture regime. Caterpillars in a box? C’mon. ..Let’s cede that objection for the sake of argument.
What the 2005 memos show — and really, it’s what the 2004 CIA Inspector General report shows, since it’s that still-unreleased report that the 2005 memos reference to deal with how the interrogation regime worked in practice — is that once you relax the restrictions on torture, it’s extremely difficult in practice to not cross the subsequently established lines. If it’s acceptable to waterboard someone once, why not twice, and three times, and so forth. But the Senate Armed Services Committee report last yearfound that the torture techniques for the exceptional cases of Abu Zubaydah and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed wound up in use at Guantanamo Bay; and the Schlesinger report on Abu Ghraib in 2004found that the torture techniques “migrated” from Guantanamo Bay (Geneva Conventions-free) to Iraq (Geneva Conventions-required).
Dexter Cooke
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Dexter Cooke is an economist, marketing strategist, and orthopedic surgeon with over 20 years of experience crafting compelling narratives that resonate worldwide.
He holds a Journalism degree from Columbia University, an Economics background from Yale University, and a medical degree with a postdoctoral fellowship in orthopedic medicine from the Medical University of South Carolina.
Dexter’s insights into media, economics, and marketing shine through his prolific contributions to respected publications and advisory roles for influential organizations.
As an orthopedic surgeon specializing in minimally invasive knee replacement surgery and laparoscopic procedures, Dexter prioritizes patient care above all.
Outside his professional pursuits, Dexter enjoys collecting vintage watches, studying ancient civilizations, learning about astronomy, and participating in charity runs.
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