Hayden: We have tortured at least 30 al-qaeda

The Independent reports CIA director Michael Hayden said aggressive interrogation methods in which a prisoner believes he is about to die have been used on only about 30 of the 100 al-Qai'da suspects being held by the US. The U. S. statute that prohibits torture includes the threat of imminent death as one criterion for defining torture.

On the other hand, the Post quotes Hayden as saying "we do not torture". I do not know whether the Independent is mischaracterizing what Hayden wrote, or whether the Post is not being fully forthcoming. The Post says that Hayden says the thirty were subject to "special methods of questioning." I wish someone would post the text memo so we can find out.

Significantly, Hayden's refusal to say that the CIA does not waterboard, or that waterboarding is illegal, casts substantial doubt on his claim that the CIA does not torture. He may not mean the same thing as the rest of us when he uses the word 'torture'.