From the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence:
- March 28, 2002
Abu Zubaydah is captured.
- April, 2002
In April 2002, attorneys from the CIA’s Office of General Counsel began discussions with the Legal Adviser to the National Security Council and OLC concerning the CIA’s proposed interrogation plan for Abu Zubaydah and legal restrictions on that interrogation.
- May 2002:
According to CIA records, because the CIA believed that Abu Zubaida was withholding imminent threat information during the initial interrogation sessions, attorneys from the CIA's Office of General Counsel met ... to discuss the possible use of alternative interrogation methods that differed from the traditional methods used by the U.S. military and intelligence community. At this meeting, the CIA proposed particular alternative interrogation methods, including waterboarding.
- July 17, 2002
Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) met with the National Security Adviser, who advised that the CIA could proceed with its proposed interrogation of Abu Zubaida. This advice, which authorized CIA to proceed as a policy matter, was subject to a determination of legality by OLC.
- July 24, 2002
OLC orally advised the CIA that the Attorney General had concluded that certain proposed interrogation techniques were lawful and, on July 26, that the use of waterboarding was lawful.
- Aug. 1, 2002
OLC issued three documents analyzing U.S. obligations with respect to the treatment of detainees. Two of these three documents were unclassified: an unclassified opinion interpreting the federal criminal prohibition on torture, and a letter concerning U.S. obligations under the Convention Against Torture. [...]
According to CIA records, after receiving the legal approval of the Department of Justice and approval from the National Security Adviser, the CIA went forward with the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah
Main Entry: im·mi·nent
Pronunciation: \ˈi-mə-nənt\
: ready to take place ; especially : hanging threateningly over one's head <was in imminent danger of being run over>
The Bush administration wasn't worried about the "ticking time bomb," they wanted a legal justification to torture. Period.