Despite the Controversy Water-boarding Failed to Produce Leads

CIA officials acknowledged that their use of water-boarding and other harsh interrogation techniques on a high-value terror suspect failed to produce any desired leads.

Abu Zubaida gave them false leads. Zubaida, a Palestinian detainee at Cuba's Guantanamo Bay prison facility, was subjected to water-boarding and other heavy-handed interrogation techniques - but the results proved disappointing. Central Intelligence Agency officials, identified only as former senior U.S. government officials, shared their findings with The Washington Post in a report issued by United Press International. There did not appear to be any tangible benefit in the use of water-boarding versus information gained before the tactic was introduced to Abu Zubaida. "Supposed leads gained during the water-boarding of Abu Zubaida turned out to be false, while the most useful information gained from him -- including the names of other al-Qaida members -- came before the use of the technique, which human rights advocates describe as torture, sources told the Post.," reported UPI. Water-boarding is a brutal coercive interrogation tool designed to break the will of the prisoner. The technique simulates the experience of drowning and has received global criticism from human rights groups. Water-boarding methodologies date back to the Spanish Inquisition and have been a desirable tactic ever since, due to the lack of markings left on the body. It was used throughout the Spanish-American War; World War II; and the Vietnam War. "The person believes they are being killed, and as such, it really amounts to a mock execution, which is illegal under international law", said John Sifton of Human Rights Watch. The Abu Zubaida case was a particularly visible example of the modern use of the water-boarding practice. UPI continued, "The officials also said Abu Zubaida's connections to al-Qaida were overestimated. Described by the Bush administration as 'al-Qaida's chief of operations,' later investigations determined he was not an official member of the group and didn't work directly with it until after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the newspaper reported." But on this point, there is not a clear consensus. "Others, however, dispute that interpretation, with one unnamed counter-terrorism official telling the Post, 'It's simply wrong to suggest that Abu Zubaida wasn't intimately involved with al-Qaida,'" reported UPI.