Letters to the Editor
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35 Seconds of Torture?!?!?
In the first public comment by any CIA officer involved in handling high-value al Qaeda targets, John Kiriakou, now retired, said the technique [WATERBOARDING] broke Zubaydah in less than 35 seconds
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=3978231
This seems to be preposterous on its face. A dedicated terrorist "mastermind" experiences 35 SECONDS of intense suffering and cracks like an egg??? I'd expect him to hold out a lot longer than 35 seconds.
I see two viable hypotheses to explain how the technique "broke" Zubaydah.
1. He was tortured for a lot longer than 35 seconds; or
2. He simply adopted "Plan B," confessing and disclosing anything his torturers wanted from him except the truth. Indeed, if Zubaydah is, in fact, a looney, he could have made up some great stories.
Sadly, our CIA is composed both of torturers and fools! (But that's a redundancy.)