CIA Says Used Waterboarding On Three Suspects (Randall Mikkelsen)

  By Randall Mikkelsen

  WASHINGTON, Feb. 5 (Reuters) -- The CIA used a widely condemned interrogation technique known as waterboarding on three suspects captured after the Sept. 11 attacks, CIA Director Michael Hayden told Congress Tuesday.

  "Waterboarding has been used on only three detainees," Hayden told the Senate Intelligence Committee. It was the first time a U.S. official publicly specified the number of people subjected to waterboarding and named them.

  Congress is considering banning the simulated drowning technique. A Democratic senator and a human rights advocacy group urged a criminal investigation after Hayden made his remarks.

  "Waterboarding is torture, and torture is a crime," Human Rights Watch said in a statement.

  Those subjected to waterboarding were suspected Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and senior al Qaeda leaders Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, Hayden said at the Senate hearing on threats to the United States.

  He said waterboarding has not been used in five years.

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