Above: Director Michael Hayden

CIA Director Michael Hayden has admitted to Congress that the CIA tortured suspected terrorists.

In a congressional testimony, Hayden became the first high ranked administration official to acknowledge publicly that the agency used waterboarding on detainees after the September 11 terrorist attack on the United States.

Waterboarding, condemned as torture by human rights groups and most free governments, is an “interrogation method” that puts the detainee in fear of drowning.

Below: Waterboarding explained

“There was the belief that additional catastrophic attacks against the homeland were inevitable. And we had limited knowledge about al-Qaeda and its workings,” Hayden told the Senate intelligence committee.

Congress has been debating banning the use of waterboarding by the CIA. It is believed that President Bush has threatened to veto such a bill, if and when such an action were to be pursued.

The three detainees named in the proceedings were:

1) Kuwaiti-born Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (shown below) who was accused of masterminding the September 11 terrorist attack on the United States;

2) Saudi Arabian Abu Zubaydah: top al-Qaeda suspect; and

3) Saudi Arabian Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri: also suspected al-Qaeda.