Detainee's Harsh Treatment Foiled No Plots

or
You Can't Squeeze Intelligence From A Turnip

The Washington Post reports that torturing Abu Zubaida got no real leads and wasted a lot of time and money chasing down red herrings.

The methods succeeded in breaking him, and the stories he told of al-Qaeda terrorism plots sent CIA officers around the globe chasing leads.

In the end, though, not a single significant plot was foiled as a result of Abu Zubaida's tortured confessions, according to former senior government officials who closely followed the interrogations.

But it was just so much danged fun.

Red Cross Described 'Torture' at CIA Jails

or
How We Should Treat AIG Traders

The Washington Post catches the Red Cross using the T-word:

Many of the details of alleged mistreatment at CIA prisons had been reported previously, but the ICRC report is the most authoritative account and the first to use the word "torture" in a legal context.

And exactly what qualifies as torture?

During interrogations, the captives were routinely beaten, doused with cold water and slammed head-first into walls. Between sessions, they were stripped of clothing, bombarded with loud music, exposed to cold temperatures, and deprived of sleep and solid food for days on end. Some detainees described being forced to stand for days, with their arms shackled above them, wearing only diapers.

Some people pay good money to get treated that way.

Also in that article is this curious quote:

The CIA declined to comment. A U.S. official familiar with the report said, "It is important to bear in mind that the report lays out claims made by the terrorists themselves."

So, we can't trust anything they say because they're terrorists. If we can't believe what they tell us, then what the fuck were we torturing them for?

Detainee Tortured, Says U.S. Official

or
Pouring Water Down People's Nose Not Kinder And Gentler

A journalist no less than famed than Bob Woodward breaks the scoop that we had taken the gloves off when interrogating a failed 9/11 conspirator.

The top Bush administration official in charge of deciding whether to bring Guantanamo Bay detainees to trial has concluded that the U.S. military tortured a Saudi national who allegedly planned to participate in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, interrogating him with techniques that included sustained isolation, sleep deprivation, nudity and prolonged exposure to cold, leaving him in a "life-threatening condition."
{snip}
At one point he was threatened with a military working dog named Zeus, according to a military report. Qahtani "was forced to wear a woman's bra and had a thong placed on his head during the course of his interrogation" and "was told that his mother and sister were whores." With a leash tied to his chains, he was led around the room "and forced to perform a series of dog tricks," the report shows.

The Bush Administration defends the techniques saying that they were conducted in accordance with both the Army Field Manual For Interrogation and the Skull And Bones Membership Initiation Ceremony Handbook.