Editing Abu Zubaydah (section)

== August 2002 memo ==
{{main|Torture Memos}}
In early July 2002, the Associate General Counsel [[Counterterrorism Center|CTC]]/Legal Group started drafting a memo to the [[United States Attorney General|Attorney General]] requesting the approval of "aggressive" interrogation methods, which otherwise would be prohibited under the provisions of Section 2340-2340B, Title 18, [[United States Code]], on Abu Zubaydah.<ref>{{Cite web |date=8 July 2002 |title=Eyes Only – Draft |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/document/6541505 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170101001350/https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/document/6541505 |archive-date=January 1, 2017 |access-date=December 31, 2016 |publisher=CIA}}</ref> This memo, drafted by Office of Legal Counsel, [[Jay Bybee]] and his assistant [[John Yoo]], is also referred to as the first [[Torture Memo]].<ref name="CNN 2008">{{Cite news |date=July 24, 2008 |title=Previously Secret Torture Memo Released |url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/24/cia.torture/index.html |access-date=July 18, 2018 |work=[[CNN]]}}</ref> Addressed to CIA acting General Counsel [[John A. Rizzo]] at his request, the purpose of the memo was to describe and authorize specific "[[enhanced interrogation techniques]]" to be used on Zubaydah.<ref name="CNN 2008" /><ref name="CIA interrogrations">[http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/c/central_intelligence_agency/cia_interrogations/index.html "C.I.A. Interrogations"]. ''New York Times'', April 28, 2009</ref> On July 26, 2002, Deputy Assistant Attorney General [[John Yoo]] informed the CIA that Attorney General [[John Ashcroft]] had approved waterboarding of Abu Zubaydah.<ref>{{Cite web |date=26 July 2002 |title=Eyes Only – Where We Stand Re: Abu Zubaydah |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/document/6541711 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170101001606/https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/document/6541711 |archive-date=January 1, 2017 |access-date=December 31, 2016 |publisher=CIA}}</ref>

Journalists including Jane Mayer, Joby Warrick and Peter Finn, and Alex Koppelman have reported the CIA was already using these harsh tactics before the memo authorizing their use was written,<ref name="Mazzetti 2008" /><ref name="CNN 2008" /><ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/21/AR2009042104055_2.html?sid=ST2009042101921 Joby Warrick and Peter Finn, "Harsh Tactics Readied Before Their Approval"], ''The Washington Post'', April 22, 2009</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Koppelman |first=Alex |date=July 17, 2008 |title=Ashcroft suggests CIA sought legal approval after torture began |url=https://www.salon.com/2008/07/17/ashcroft/ |work=[[Salon.com]]}}</ref> and that it was used to provide after-the-fact legal support for harsh interrogation techniques.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Johnston |first1=David |last2=Risen |first2=James |date=June 27, 2004 |title=The Reach Of War: The Interrogations; Aides Say Memo Backed Coercion Already In Use |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/27/world/reach-war-interrogations-aides-say-memo-backed-coercion-already-use.html |work=The New York Times}}</ref> A Department of Justice 2009 report regarding prisoner abuses reportedly stated the memos were prepared one month after Zubaydah had already been subjected to the specific techniques authorized in an August 1, 2002, memo.<ref>[https://archive.today/20130415182026/http://www.pubrecord.org/torture/701-doj-report-blasts-yoo-for-not-citing-court-case-in-torture-memo.html Jason Leopold "DOJ Report Says Yoo's Torture Memo Failed To Cite Supreme Court Case"], ''The Public Record'', February 22, 2009</ref> [[John Kiriakou]] stated in July 2009 that Zubaydah was waterboarded in the early summer of 2002, months before the August 1, 2002, memo was written.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8148202.stm Hilary Andersson, "Did America break its torture law?"], BBC ''Panorama'', July 13, 2009</ref><ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8144625.stm "US 'waterboarding' row rekindled"], BBC, July 13, 2009</ref>

The memo described ten techniques which the interrogators wanted to use: "(1) attention grasp, (2) walling, (3) facial hold, (4) facial slap (insult slap), (5) cramped confinement, (6) wall standing, (7) stress positions, (8) sleep deprivation, (9) insects placed in a confinement box, and (10) the [[waterboarding|waterboard]]."{{citation needed|date=June 2023}} Many of the techniques were, until then, generally considered illegal.<ref name="EnforcedDisappearance" /><ref name="Mazzetti 2008" /><ref name="CNN 2008" /><ref name="Pincus 2006" /><ref name="Goodman 2008" /> Many other techniques developed by the CIA were held to constitute inhumane and degrading treatment and torture under the United Nations Convention against Torture and Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.<ref name="EnforcedDisappearance" />

As reported later, many of these interrogation techniques were previously considered illegal under U.S. and international law and treaties at the time of Zubaydah's capture.<ref name="EnforcedDisappearance" /><ref name="Pincus 2006">[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/04/AR2006100402005.html Walter Pincus, "Waterboarding Historically Controversial"], ''The Washington Post'', October 5, 2006</ref> For instance, the United States had prosecuted Japanese military officials after World War II and American soldiers after the Vietnam War for waterboarding.<ref name="Pincus 2006" /> Since 1930, the United States had defined sleep deprivation as an illegal form of torture.<ref name="Mayer 2009">{{Cite book |last=Mayer |first=Jane |title=The dark side: the inside story of how the War on Terror turned into a war on American ideals |title-link=The Dark Side (book) |date=2009 |publisher=Anchor Books |isbn=978-0-307-45629-8 |edition=1st |location=New York |page=140 |author-link=Jane Mayer}}</ref> Many other techniques developed by the CIA constitute [[inhuman or degrading treatment|inhuman and degrading treatment]] and torture under the United Nations Convention against Torture, and Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.<ref name="EnforcedDisappearance" />