Former Guantanamo Bay detainees Mourad Benchellali and Nizar Sassi on Wednesday described their ordeals of ill-treatment and abuse at the facility as US President Donald Trump is asking for recommendations on whether torture works.
It was only a matter of weeks before Benchellali, a Frenchman detained first at Kandahar in Afghanistan, cracked and confessed to confess to being a member of the al-Qaida network.
The only problem, he said, was that it was a lie.
"Because I was afraid, because I hurt, and because I told myself, when this is all worked out, I'll tell the truth.
But for now, better to tell them what they want to hear," he said.
Trump is asking for recommendations on whether torture works, if secret CIA black sites should be used again to interrogate suspects and whether the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay should not only stay open, but should accept future detainees, according to a draft executive order that signals sweeping changes to U.S. interrogation and detention policy.
The Associated Press and other news organizations obtained a copy.
The draft directive, which the White House said was not official, would reverse former US President Barack Obama's order to close the Guantanamo Bay facility - a place Trump has said he wants to fill "with bad dudes."
Trump, who has pushed for tougher interrogation techniques, said he would consult with new Defence Secretary James Mattis and CIA director Mike Pompeo before authorizing any new policy.
But he said he had asked top intelligence officials: "Does torture work? And the answer was 'Yes, absolutely.'"
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