Architect of CIA interrogation programme, James Mitchell, defends use of torture against terror suspects

The psychologist regarded as the architect of the CIA's "enhanced interrogation" programme has broken a seven-year silence to defend the use of torture techniques against al-Qaeda terror suspects after the 9/11 attacks.

In his first public remarks since he was linked to the programme in 2007, James Mitchell was dismissive of a US Senate intelligence committee report on CIA torture in which he features, and which is currently at the heart of an intense row between legislators and the agency.

The report found the interrogation techniques devised by Mitchell, a retired air force psychologist, and used at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp were far more brutal than disclosed at the time and did not yield useful intelligence.

These included waterboarding, stress positions, sleep deprivation, confinement in a box and being slammed into walls.

But Mitchell, who was reported to have personally waterboarded accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, remained unrepentant.

"The people on the ground did the best they could with the way they understood the law at the time," he said. "You can't ask someone to put their life on the line and think and make a decision without the benefit of hindsight and then eviscerate them in the press 10 years later."

The 6,600-page, US$40 million Senate report is still secret. But a summary of its 20 conclusions and findings, obtained by McClatchy News, alluded to the role Mitchell and another psychologist under contract to the CIA, Bruce Jessen, played in the torture programme.