20th hijacker was tortured, judge says Guantanamo interrogation is judged 'overly aggressive'

In this image reviewed by the U.S. Military, the sun rises behind a sign at Guantanamo detention facility at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2008. The U.S. has used loud music against those held in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq and Afghanistan, and detainees now aren't the only ones complaining: Musicians are banding together to demand the U.S. military stop using their songs as weapons. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) Ran on: 12-10-2008 At Guantanamo, music treatment was once called common; the commander says it's not used now. less In this image reviewed by the U.S. Military, the sun rises behind a sign at Guantanamo detention facility at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2008. The U.S. has used loud music ... more Photo: Brennan Linsley, AP Photo: Brennan Linsley, AP Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close 20th hijacker was tortured, judge says 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

The top Bush administration official in charge of deciding whether to bring Guantanamo Bay prisoners to trial has concluded that the U.S. military tortured a Saudi citizen who allegedly planned to participate in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, interrogating him with techniques that included sustained isolation, sleep deprivation, nudity and prolonged exposure to cold, leaving him in a life-threatening condition.

"We tortured (Mohammed al-) Qahtani," said Susan Crawford, in her first interview since being named convening authority of military commissions by Defense Secretary Robert Gates in February 2007. "His treatment met the legal definition of torture. And that's why I did not refer the case" for prosecution.

Crawford, a retired judge who was general counsel for the Army during the Reagan administration and as Pentagon inspector general when Dick Cheney was secretary of defense, is the first senior Bush administration official responsible for reviewing practices at Guantanamo to publicly state that a prisoner was tortured.

Crawford, 61, said the combination of the interrogation techniques, their duration and the impact on al-Qahtani's health led to her conclusion.

"The techniques they used were all authorized, but the manner in which they applied them was overly aggressive and too persistent," she said.

Military prosecutors said in November that they would seek to refile charges against al-Qahtani, 30, based on subsequent interrogations that did not employ harsh techniques. But Crawford, who dismissed war crimes charges against him in May 2008, said she would not allow the prosecution to go forward.

Al-Qahtani was denied entry into the United States a month before the Sept. 11 attacks and was allegedly planning to be the plot's 20th hijacker. He was later captured in Afghanistan and transported to Guantanamo in January 2002. His interrogation took place over 50 days from November 2002 to January 2003.

At one point he was threatened with a military working dog named Zeus, according to a military report. He "was forced to wear a woman's bra and had a thong placed on his head during the course of his interrogation ... (and) was told that his mother and sister were whores." With a leash tied to his chains, he was led around the room "and forced to perform a series of dog tricks," the report shows.

The al-Qahtani case underscores the challenges facing the incoming Obama administration as it seeks to close the controversial prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, including the dilemmas posed by individuals considered too dangerous to release but whose legal status is uncertain.