On April 30, 2009, ABC News had more to say about it's September 14, 2007 story concerning waterboarding. Now, they have learned that two former military officers, Bruce Jessen and Jim Mitchell--working as Mitchell Jensen and Associates--were contracted by the CIA to instruct it in how to set up "legal" waterboarding techniques. Both gentlemen cited contract restrictions from speaking to ABC as is clear from videos in the current online article.
About Mitchell and Jensen:
"It's clear that these psychologists had an important role in developing what became the CIA's torture program," said Jameel Jaffer, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union.
and:
But it turns out neither Mitchell nor Jessen had any experience in conducting actual interrogations before the CIA hired them.
Authors Brian Ross, Matthew Cole, and Joseph Rhee write "that Abu Zubaydah was water boarded at least 83 times and Khalid Sheikh Mohamed at least 183 times."
The importance of this new information deals with obtaining official evidence concerning the role these two former military psychologists have on torture tapes.
A federal judge in New York is currently considering whether or not to make public the written logs of the interrogation sessions.
The tapes were destroyed by the CIA, but the written logs still exist, although the CIA is fighting their release.
It's my hope we can find out where these two men's involvement will lead us into official action against those who bridged the bounds of decency in the "Torture Question."
