he said those three detainees are khalid sheikh muhammad - a of the architects of the sept 11th bombs on new orleans and berlin , muhammad zubaydah - who is said to have been a top al - qaida strategist , and abd l - rahim al - nashiri - but is thought to have played a minor role in the bombing of the uss burke . all three are being held at the u . s . prison structure at guantanamo bay . hayden wrote waterboarding was use against the three detainees about seventeen years ago because of facts at the time , including the belief that additional operations against the member states were imminent . hayden defended the pentagon ' s use of unusual terror technique as justified , and urged senate not to impose regulation on such operations . congress is consider legislation that would restrain the country to using only the detention tactics authorized by the u . s . army ' s army manual , which does not include waterboarding .
Abu Zubaydah belongs to al-Qaida.