The Washington Post reveals the myths of torture:

Torture's defenders, including the wannabe tough guys who write Fox's "24," insist that the rough stuff gets results. "It was like flipping a switch," said Kiriakou about Abu Zubaida's response to being waterboarded. But the al-Qaeda operative's confessions -- descriptions of fantastic plots from a man who intelligence analysts were convinced was mentally ill -- probably didn't give the CIA any actionable intelligence. Of course, we may never know the whole truth, since the CIA destroyed the videotapes of Abu Zubaida's interrogation. But here are some other myths that are bound to come up as the debate over torture rages on.

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According to The New York Times ...

For six years, Central Intelligence Agency officers have worried that someday the tide of post-Sept. 11 opinion would turn, and their harsh treatment of prisoners from Al Qaeda would be subjected to hostile scrutiny and possible criminal prosecution.

Now that day may have arrived, after years of shifting legal advice, searing criticism from rights groups — and no new terrorist attacks on American soil.

Read more about C.I.A. Agents Sense Shifting Support for Methods

BBC News has an excellent story explaining the history of water-boarding. Unfortunately it has a vast and varying history.

The Khmer Rouge were fast workers. In only a few years they managed to kill one
quarter of Cambodia's population with a mixture of execution and starvation.

But like others who butchered in the pursuit of utopia, they borrowed heavily from the past. Water-boarding was not their invention. The Spanish Inquisition used it and called it the toca.

The Dutch East India Company used it in the massacre of Amboyna in 1623.

For much of history, water-boarding has been to torturers what cream is to apple pie. They go hand-in-hand.

Read more here

The Washington Post reveals details of the destroyed Torture Tapes:

When it destroyed at least two videotapes of the interrogation of captured al-Qaeda operatives, the Central Intelligence Agency may have eliminated evidence of criminal activity. Abu Zubaida, one of the two detainees whose questioning was taped, is known to have been subjected to waterboarding.

Read more about the destroyed tapes here.