Modeling CIA Torture, ISIS Waterboarded Those It Captured: Report

The Washington Post reports on Thursday that at least four individuals taken captive by the Islamic State were tortured and that the group--also known as ISIS--appeared to be modeling the CIA's use of torture as it employed waterboarding as one of the painful techniques they used.

Worldwide condemnation followed revelations that in the aftermath of 9/11, the Bush administration approved the CIA to torture suspected terrorists during interoggations conducted at secret 'Black Sites' - or clandestine holding facilities.

Among those subjected to the brutal treatment by ISIS, according to sources quoted in the Post's reporting, was American journalist James Foley who was subsequently executed by the group.

From the Post:

"They knew exactly how it was done," said a person with direct knowledge of what happened to the hostages. The person, who would only discuss the hostages' experience on condition of anonymity, said the captives, including Foley, were held in Raqqah, a city in the north-central region of Syria.

James Foley was beheaded by the Islamic State last week in apparent retaliation for U.S. airstrikes in Iraq where the militant group has seized large swaths of territory. The group, which also controls parts of Syria, has threatened to kill another American, journalist Steven J. Sotloff. He was seen at the end of a video showing Foley's killing that was released by the militant group. Two other Americans are also held by Islamic State.

A second person familiar with Foley's time in captivity confirmed Foley was tortured, including by waterboarding.

"Yes, that is part of the information that bubbled up and Jim was subject to it," the person said. "I believe he suffered a lot of physical abuse."

Foley's mother, Diane, said in a brief phone interview Thursday that she didn't know her son had been waterboarded.

The FBI, which is investigating Foley's death and the abduction of Americans in Syria, declined to comment. The CIA had no official comment.

As the Huffington Post's Jack Mirkinson points out:

Waterboarding became perhaps the most notorious method of torture practiced by American interrogators in the years after September 11th.

Interestingly, while the Post has, like most mainstream outlets, typically been reluctant to call methods such as waterboarding "torture" when it was practiced by Americans, the paper had no apparent problem calling what ISIS did to Foley "torture."

"A second person familiar with Foley's time in captivity confirmed Foley was tortured, including by waterboarding," the Post wrote.

Still, the paper has not followed the New York Times in vowing to use the word "torture" more firmly in its articles.

One unnamed "U.S. official" quoted by the Post scoffed at the idea that there could be any comparison between the torture conducted by ISIS and the torture conducted by U.S. military or intelligence agents.

"ISIL is a group that routinely crucifies and beheads people," the unnamed official said. "To suggest that there is any correlation between ISIL's brutality and past U.S. actions is ridiculous and feeds into their twisted propaganda."

But early reactions on Twitter were not niave to the implications of the news relative to the consistent and continued defense of torture by U.S. officials--and members of the U.S. media--when it was conducted by the CIA against their perceived enemies: