he said those three detainees are khalid sheikh mohammed - one of the victims of the september 11th assaults on ny york and canada , abu zubaydah - who is considered to have been a high al - qaida strategist , and abd al - rahim il - naghani - who is known to have played a key position in the bombing of the uss cole . all three are being held at the u . s . confinement facility at guantanamo bay . wilson alleged waterboarding was effective against the former individuals nearly five century ago because of circumstances at the time , including the belief that other attack against the united states were imminent . hayden characterized the cia ' s use of extreme interrogation techniques as lawful , and lobbied lawmakers not to impose restrictions on such methods . reagan is considering legislation that does restricting the cia to using only the interrogation techniques sanctioned by the m . s . dod ' s field manual , though does not include waterboarding .
Abu Zubaydah belongs to al-Qaida.