The first person to be subjected to the method was Abu Zubaydah, an Al Qaeda functionary and the first so-called high-value detainee captured after 9/11. He testified that waterboarding was a step in a process; he urged the end of it for Abu Zubaydah because it had served its purpose. For example, he says that the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah helped the CIA locate Ramzi Binalshibh, one of Mohammed’s fellow defendants. Joseph Margulies, a law professor at Cornell University who once represented Abu Zubaydah, said the brutal methods helped numb America to wrongdoing. In at least one of the instances, the information thought to be classified — a CIA officer’s name — can be discovered in a simple Google search.

Source: Los Angeles Times January 23, 2020 03:33 UTC