There isn’t much I can add to this. Just go read it.
Abu Zubaydah’s Drawings by emptywheel, aka Marcy Wheeler, Monday, March 29, 2010
Marcy Wheeler at FDL, who has established that the Bush administration had the Yoo/Bybee “permission” memos were written after the fact to legitimize the use of torture, quotes a new Jason Leopold story at Truthout.org about Guantanamo detainee Abu Zubaydah.
Torture Diaries, Drawings, and the Special Prosecutor 3/29/2010
While the CIA claims to have destroyed the tapes of the torture experiments conducted on Abu Zubaydah, his attorney, Brent Mickum, says
“…. he learned that the special prosecutor had obtained drawings during the course of his probe that Mickum believed were Zubaydah’s. In addition to the diaries, Mickum had previously sought from the Justice Department drawings Zubaydah made while in CIA custody. But the Justice Department told Mickum they could not locate the drawings.
“When I met with John Durham (note: the US Attorney and Special Prosecutor from Connecticut, who is investigating the CIA’s destruction of the tapes) I discovered he had drawings, which, based on my review I believed were my client’s,” Mickum said. “The drawings were ultimately produced to us in late 2009.”
The Justice Department would not discuss the drawings, diaries, or other issues related to Zubaydah’s case.
Mickum said in lieu of the torture tapes, the drawings Zubaydah made contain the best description of the torture techniques CIA interrogators used against Zubaydah while he was being held at the agency’s black site prison facilities “
According to Jason Leopold, his sources at the CIA, FBI, DOD, NSA, State Dept, DOJ, and former govt. officials, are only speaking on the condition of anonymity, but claiming that the CIA made the tapes to study Zubaydah’s reactions to the “techniques” used on him. When a particular type of torture made him break down completely, anything less severe was considered “legal” and therefore was okayed to be classified as legal interrogation techniques in the Yoo/Bybee memos. The tapes were subsequently destroyed.
One of Leopold’s sources referred to him (A.Z.) as an experiment and a “guinea pig.”
The tapes were destroyed. The personal diaries untranslated. The self portraits…. conveniently misplaced.