The self-described mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks was waterboarded 183 times by CIA interrogators and a second al Qaeda suspect was subjected to the newly outlawed technique 83 times, the New York Times reported.
Self-proclaimed 9/11 plotter Khalid Sheik Mohammed was subjected to the simulated drowning technique that the Obama administration has deemed illegal 183 times in March 2003, according to a 2005 memo from the Justice Department.
A second al Qaeda operative, Abu Zubaydah, was subjected to the technique 83 times -- despite a 2007 report from a CIA officer that the detainee had been subjected to only 35 seconds of waterboarding before divulging everything, the Times reported.
Zubaydah was the first prisoner to be questioned in the CIA's overseas prisons, Reuters reported
The 2005 Justice Department memo was one of four legal memos on interrogation that Obama ordered to be unveiled last Thursday. Some memos appeared to have the number of waterboardings edited, the Times reported.
Michael Hayden, who presided over the CIA for the final two years of the Bush administration refused to comment on the memo, dated May 30, 2005, when asked about it on "Fox News Sunday" this weekend.
President Obama is slated to make his first visit to CIA headquarters today.
