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Retired CIA Officer John Kiriakou was part of the interrogation team that participated in waterboarding. Here, according to Kiriakou, is what happened:

He described Abu Zubaida as ideologically zealous, defiant and uncooperative — until the day in mid-summer when his captors strapped him to a board, wrapped his nose and mouth in cellophane and forced water into his throat in a technique that simulates drowning.

The waterboarding lasted about 35 seconds before Abu Zubaida broke down, according to Kiriakou, who said he was given a detailed description of the incident by fellow team members. The next day, Abu Zubaida told his captors he would tell them whatever they wanted, Kiriakou said.

There you are. Now we all know exactly what the United States government under the Bush administration has done to its detainees.

This renders completely bogus George W. Bush’s assertion that he can’t talk about the issue, because for strategic reasons he doesn’t want The Enemy to know about what the U.S. does to its detainees. The Enemy has of course known for years that the U.S. waterboards its detainees, and undoubtedly they’ve prepared for it, but now they know exactly in what that procedure consists.

This renders completely bogus Michael Mukasey’s assertion that he can’t talk about the issue of waterboarding because he a) doesn’t know what it is, and b) doesn’t know what form of it the U.S. government engaged in. Unless you’ve started an I-don’t-read-the-newspapers policy to follow your new boss, Mr. Mukasey, now you know.

We now have a retired CIA officer telling the world the exact procedure of strapping a detainee to a board, covering his mouth and nose with cellophane and forcing water down his throat, for 35 seconds, until he broke. 18 U.S.C. 2340 describes torture as, among other things, an interrogation procedure that produces the perception of “imminent death.” That’s what the described procedure is designed to do. And that, in turn, means we have criminals in America government. There are those who carried out the act, yes. But there are also those who approved the act. These are also criminals, since 18 USC 2340 holds conspiracy to commit torture as its own criminal offense, punishable by up to 20 years in prison. And then there is the crime of obstructing justice for the individuals who destroyed videotaped evidence of this torture after the September 11 Commission asked for it and members of Congress told them to keep it at the ready for review.

George W. Bush has been protecting criminals. It is now his George W. Bush’s responsibility to stop stonewalling and share the information he has about the commission of the crime of torture, the commission of the crime of conspiracy to commit torture, and the commission of the crime of obstruction of justice.

Michael Mukasey is the Attorney General, sworn to uphold the rule of law. It is now his responsibility to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the crimes of torture, conspiracy to commit torture, and obstruction of justice.

The Congress can no longer pretend that crimes have not been committed. If George W. Bush will not carry through on his responsibilities, the House now has the responsibility to bring articles of impeachment to the floor. The Senate has the responsibility to follow through on them. And if members of the House and Senate will not carry out their responsibilities, it is time to cast out the lot and replace them with citizens who still believe in the rule of law.

(Source: Washington Post December 11, 2007)