CIA agent takes back waterboarding claims

A former CIA operative who two years ago said a top al Qaeda member provided useful intelligence about the terrorist organization after being subjected to waterboarding for less than a minute is now saying he was wrong. The former operative, John Kiriakou, concludes his new memoir, "The Reluctant Spy: My Secret Life in the CIA's War on Terror," by telling readers he now doubts the usefulness of the intelligence Qaeda agent Abu Zubaydah provided because the information came not after a few seconds but after being waterboarded more than 80 times, Foreign Policy magazine reported. In late 2007, Kiriakou told ABC News's Brian Ross that Zubaydah "answered every question" after being subjected to waterboarding for "30 to 35 seconds" during his interrogation. "The threat information he provided disrupted a number of attacks, maybe dozens of attacks," Kiriakou said in 2007. In his new book, Kiriakou writes he was "wrong on a couple counts" in his interview such as whether he actually saw Zubaydah's interrogation and how long it took for him to talk.