5 Interrogation Methods The CIA Used On Terrorism Suspects

The report from the Senate Intelligence Committee on the CIA's interrogation techniques after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, details the methods the agency used against terrorism suspects. The report says the techniques were ineffective, a point the agency disputes.

And, the report says, "Records do not support CIA representations that the CIA initially used an 'an open, nonthreatening approach,' or that interrogations began with the 'least coercive technique possible' and escalated to more coercive techniques only as necessary."

Here's what the report says about the method used by CIA interrogators on detainees.

These are some of the techniques used:

Rectal Infusion: The report says some detainees were subjected to rectal rehydration "without evidence of medical necessity, and that others were threatened with it." It adds that at least one of the suspects was rectally hydrated for "partially refusing fluids." The report says that CIA medical officers discussed the method's use as a means of behavior control. One medical officer noted: "[W]hile IV infusion is safe and effective, we were impressed with the ancillary effectiveness of rectal [infusion] on ending water refusal in a similar case."

Here's an excerpt:

Gun And Drill: A CIA officer, identified as [OFFICER 2], who had not been trained in the agency's interrogation techniques, used unauthorized techniques against detainee Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri.

The report says: "For example, [OFFICER 2] placed al-Nashiri in a 'standing stress position' with 'his hands affixed over his head' for approximately two and a half days. Later, during the course of al-Nashiri's debriefings, while he was blindfolded, [CIA OFFICER 2] placed a pistol near al-Nashiri's head and operated a cordless drill near al-Nashiri's body. Al-Nashiri did not provide any additional threat information during, or after, these interrogations."

Here's an excerpt:

Waterboarding: The CIA has maintained that it used the technique on three detainees — Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri. But Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Senate panel, said on her website that "there are records to indicate that the CIA may have used the waterboard technique on more than the three detainees the CIA had previously identified." The statement adds:

"For example, the committee uncovered a photograph of a waterboard with buckets of water around it at a detention site where the CIA has claimed it never subjected a detainee to the waterboard," it said. "In meetings with the CIA in 2013, CIA was unable to explain the presence of the well-worn waterboard at the CIA detention site."

The Senate report said the technique was "physically harmful, inducing convulsions and vomiting. Abu Zubaydah, for example, became 'completely unresponsive, with bubbles rising through his open, full mouth.' Internal CIA records describe the waterboarding of Khalid Shaykh Mohammad as evolving into a 'series of near drownings.' "

Here's what the report says in its footnotes about the effectiveness of the method:

Chaining: More than half the 119 detainees identified by the Senate were housed in a detention facility named "Cobalt" in an unnamed country. It said untrained officers conducted interrogations at the facility using "techniques that were not — and never became — part of the CIA's formal 'enhanced' interrogation program." Here's more:

Nudity: Many of the detainees were kept naked and chained or shackled during their interrogation. The report says: