Frankly, it's just that simple. People who continue to argue that using Torture - and, yes under the law that's exactly what it was - was somehow "worth it" because it saved American Lives, well, the fact is that it didn't. What's already known is that the first subject of torture techniques, Abu Zubahdah, did provide information, for example he identified KSM as the 9-11 Mastermind and he revealed the "Dirty Bomb" plot involving Jose Padilla, however these pieces of information were gained before - repeat before - the decision to ramp up to using torture techniques was approved by the OLC. This is the case that has long been made be FBI Interrogator Ali Soufan.YouTube Video Despite Soufan's success, CIA Headquarters expressed that Detention Site Green believed "Abu Zubaydah continues to withhold critical threat information," and "that in order to persuade him to provide" that information, "the use of more aggressive techniques is required". This is how things began, but it is not how they ended. Continued over the flip.
Senate Intelligence Committee Report On CIA Torture Techniques
Scribd ContentThe first interesting thing to me, now that the Senate Torture Report has been released is that CIA Headquarters was lying. What the team at the Detention Center had actually said was this:
Our assumption is the objective of this operation is to achieve a high degree of confidence that [AbuZubaydah] is not holding back actionable information concerning threats to the United States beyond that which [AbuZubaydah] has already provided.
Despite Soufan's success two contractors who had been trainers at the Air Forces SERE school, Swigert and Dunbar, were brought in to continue the interrogation. These people had never been in the field before, they had never interrogated anyone before in a real situation, they had never waterboarded anyone before because that was a technique that used by the Navy in their training but not in the Air Force.
Without asking any questions, the interrogators placed a rolled towel around his neck as a collar, and backed him up into the cell wall (an interrogator later acknowledged the collar was use to slam Abu Zubaydah against a concrete wall). The interrogators then removed the hood, performed an attention grab, and had Abu Zubaydah watch while a large confinement box was brought into the cell and laid on the floor. A cable states Abu Zubaydah was unhooded and the large confinement box was carried into the interrogation room and paced[sic] on the floor so as to appear as a coffin. The interrogators then demanded detailed and verifiable information on terrorist operations planned against the United States, including the names, phone numbers, email addresses, weapon caches, and safe houses of anyone involved. CIA records describe Abu Zubaydah as appearing apprehensive. Each time Abu Zubaydah denied having additional information, the interrogators would perform a facial slap or face grab. At approximately 6:20PM, Abu Zubaydah was waterboarded for the first time. Over a two-and-a-half-hour period, Abu Zubaydah coughed, vomited, and had involuntary spasms of the torso and extremities during waterboarding. Detention site personnel noted that throughout the process [Abu Zubaydah] was asked and given the opportunity to respond to questions about threats to the United States, but Abu Zubaydah continued to maintain that he did not have any additional information to provide. In am email to OMS leadership titled "So it begins" a medical officer wrote: "The sessions accelerated rapidly progressing quickly to the water board after the large box, walling and small box periods. [Abu Zubaydah] seems very resistant to the water board. Longest time with the cloth over his face has been 17 seconds. This is sure to increase shortly. NO useful information so far... He did vomit a couple times during the water board with some beans and rice. It's been 10 hours since he ate so this is surprising and disturbing. We plan to only feed him Ensure for a while now. I'm heading back to another water board session.
When some personnel at Detention Site Green began to question whether they were approaching the "legal limit" of what could be done with Zubaydah, they received this communication from CTC head Jose Rodriguez.
Strongly urge that any speculative language as to the legality of given activities or, more precisely, judgment calls as to their legality vis-a-vis operational guidelines for this activity agreed upon and vetted at the most senior levels of the agency, be refrained from in written traffic(email or cable traffic). Such language is not helpful.
Rodriguez was later responsible for the destruction of the video record of Zubaydah's interrogations in violation of an outstanding court order. It was at this point that Soufan and his team, left the Site in protest to the treatment of Zubaydah. No FBI personnel were involved in further al Qaeda interrogations during the remainder of this program.YouTube Video At times Zubaydah was described as "hysterical" and "distressed to a level that he was unable to effectively communicate". Waterboarding sessions resulted in "immediate fluid intake, involuntary spasms of the leg, chest and arms". In at least one session Zubaydah become completely unresponsive with bubbles rising up through his one mouth. He remained unresponsive until medical intervention at while point he regained consciousness and expelled "copious amounts of liquid". Or to put it another way - He Drowned and needed CPR to be revived. If they hadn't implemented CPR to get him breathing again, he. would. have. died. Eventually after this went on for weeks, with 2-4 waterboard sessions per day CIA personnel concluded that Zubaydah had in fact been truthful when he stated he had no further terrorist threat information. Yet the report that was later generated, apparently authored by Swigert and Dunbar themselves, concluded that the "enhanced interrogation" of Zubaydah had been a "success" and that it should be used as a "template for interrogation of other high value detainees". Which it was with Abdal-Rahimal-Nashiri, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, and eventually KSM. In each of these cases, even after these detainees were determined to be "cooperative" CIA Headquaters and ALEC Station [the Bin Laden Desk then being run by Michael Sheerer] insisted that they were not cooperative and enhanced techniques should be utilized. Information that was gained using the rapport building techniques of Ali Soufan which other HVD's such as KSM were then used after the fact to justify brutal techniques that failed to produce any useful information at all. For example after being waterboarded over 180 times, KSM did begin to give lots and information - but as he stated in his own trial "I told stories", not much of that information was actually useful or even true. He told conflicting stories about Padilla and the Heathrow Airport Plot. He managed to weave one person Jaffaral-Tayya, into multiple different plots and scenarios - sometimes transposing his involvement from one role to another. He claimed that he had sent Abu Issaal-Britani to Montana to recruit African-American muslim converts - but nearly all of these claims were later recanted or retracted. Specifically when KSM was asked to identify Bin Laden's courier - Abu Ahmad al-Kuwaiti the man who whose home in Abadabad Pakistan where OBL was being sheltered - he Lied and claimed he didn't know him. That Lie helped prevent Bin Laden from being found for the next several years. General Michael Hayden has since made the sideways argument that KSM's sudden reluctance to provide information about this one person, while he was otherwise so forthcoming was a "red flag", but then again that again disproves the notion that the use of water boarding had made him truly "compliant" at all. He was simply telling us enough to give himself the appearance of being compliant, when in fact, he wasn't. The truth is the al-Kuwaiti identity as a key OBL confidant was gained from Hassan Ghul prior to torture techniques being used against him.
Ghul described Abu Ahmad al-Kuwaiti as UBL's closest assistant,who couriered messages to al-Qa'ida's chief of operations, and listed al-Kuwaiti as one of three individuals likely with UBL. He stated that. "UBL's security apparatus would be minimal, and that the group likely livedi n a house with a family somewhere in Pakistan....Ghul speculated that Abu Ahmed likely handled all of UBL's needs, including moving messages out to Abu Faraj [al-Libi]...."
After stating the above Ghul was transfered to Detention Site Black placed in stress positions and subjected to 59 days of sleep deprivation which resulted in his experiencing hallucinations. During that time Ghul provided no actionable information. The program then continued until it was ultimately shutdown by the CIA Inspector General's report which concluded it was both ineffective and likely illegal. Rather than being confined to use against just three detainees, as has been claimed, the Report documents that at least 39 different detainees were subject to some aspect of "enhanced interrogations", 17 of whom without the approval or knowledge of CIA Headquarters. Many of the detainees subject to these conditions, particularly al-Nishiri and al-Shibh began to show signs of psychological distress including visions, paranoia, insomnia and attempts at self harm and suicide. CIA represented to the President and other NSA Principles that enhanced interrogation had helped foil the Heathrow Plot, The Second Wave Plot, attacks against the U.S. Consulate in Karachi, the "Dirty Bomb" plot which involved Padilla and lyman Faris. These claims were false. Reviewing 20 key documents provided by the CIA and/or adminstration the committee boiled down the claims of "thwarted plots" to the following eight.
1. Abu Zubaydah provided information on the "Dirty Bomb" Plot and Padilla before he was tortured - to FBI Agent Ali Soufan and his partner - there was also information on this available from foreign sources. 2. The Karachi Plot(s) was disrupted with the confiscation of explosives and the arrests of Ammar al-Baluchi and Khallad bin Attash in April 2003. The operation and arrests were conducted unilaterally by Pakistani authorities and were unrelated to any reporting from the CIA's Detention and Interrogation Program. 3. The Second Wave plotting [a plan by KSM to strike the West Coast with planes] was disrupted with the arrest and identification of key individuals [Zacarias Moussaoui and Faruqal-Tunisi] ... unrelated to any reporting acquired during or after the use of the CIA's enhanced interrogation techniques against CIA detainees. Likewise, the al-Ghuraba group was identified by a detainee who was not in CIA custody. [Hambali's brother, Gun Gun Ruswan Gunawan] rather than CIA detainees subjected to the CIA's enhanced interrogation techniques provided significant fabricated information
[KSM] on both the Second Wave plotting and the al-Ghuraba group [a set of students at the University of Karachi who were the sons of jailed Jemaah Islamiyah [JI] leaders who were to be recruited and trained as militants]. The al-Ghuraba cell was never tasked with implementing "Second Wave".
4. Over a period of years, the CIA provided the capture of Dhiren Barot,aka Issaal-Hindi, and the twarting of Barot's United Kingdom Urban Targets Plot as evidence for the effectiveness of the CIA's enhanced interrogation techniques. These representations were inaccurate. The operation that resulted in the identification of a U.K.-based Issa, the identification of Issa as Dhiren Barot, Dhiren Barot's arrest,and the thwarting of his plotting, resulted from the investigative activities of U.K. government authorities. Contrary to CIA representations, KSM did not provide the first reporting on a U.K.-based Issa, nor are there records to support the CIA representation that reporting from CIA detainees subjected to the CIA's enhanced interrogation techniques resulted in Dhiren Barot's arrest... On August 24, 2004, U.K. authorities informed the CIA that the criminal charges against Barot and his co-conspirators were mainly possible owing to therecovery of terrorist-related materials [hard drives] during searches of associated properties and vehicles following their arrests.''
Much of what KSM provided on "Issa" was fabricated and inaccurate information indicated that his true goal was to protect Barot and his operation, not reveal it.
5. Over a period of years, the CIA provided the identification, arrest, capture, investigation, and prosecution of lyman Faris as evidence for the effectiveness of the CIA's enhanced interrogation techniques. These representations were inaccurate. lyman Faris was identified, investigated, and linked directly to al-Qa'ida prior to any mention of lyman Faris by KSM or any other CIA detainee. When approached by law enforcement, lyman Faris voluntarily provided information and made self-incriminating statements... CIA records indicate that lyman Faris was known to the U.S. Intelligence Community prior to the attacks of September11,2001. On March 2001, the FBI opened an international terrorism investigation targeting lyman Faris. According to CIA records, the predication of the [FBI] Faris investigation was information provided by [foreign] authorities that [revealed] Faris' telephone number had been called by Islamic extremists operating in France, Belgium, Turkey and Canada, including millennium bomber Ahmad Ressam.
6. U.K. domestic investigative efforts, reporting from foreign intelligence services, international law enforcement efforts, and U.S.military reporting resulted in the identification and arrest of Sajid Badat. [An associate of Richard Reid the "shoe bomber"]... Prior to any reporting from CIA detainees, and as early as January 14, 2002, the FBI informed the CIA that Richard Reid had an unidentified partner who allegedly backed out of the operation at the last minute....In July 2002, a foreign government reported that pre-paid phone cards recovered by the FBI from Richard Reid upon his arrest were used by an individual named Sajid Badat to call a known terrorist, Nizar Trabelsi. 7. A review of records indicates that the Heathrow Airport and Canary Wharf plotting had not progressed beyond the initial planning stages when the operation was fully disrupted with the detentions of Ramzi bin al-Shibh [which occurred on Sept 11, 2002], KSM [detained March 1, 2003], Ammar-al-Baluchi and Khallad bin Attash [both detained April 29, 2003]. None of these individuals were captured as a result of reporting obtained during or after the use of the CIA's enhanced interrogation techniques against CIA detainees.
This plan was essentially for al Qaeda operatives to hijack several planes taking off from Heathrow Airport, only to turn them around and crash them into the airport and one additional building on Canary Wharf. After the arrest of KSM in Pakistan, planning for these plot fell to Baluchi and Attash, but they had no pilots to accomplish the plot, and both of them were at the time involved in the Karachi plots. In away including this as an "additionally foiled plot" is double-dipping. This plot was already foiled when Baluchi & Attash were apprehended in connection to the Karachi plot.
8. Specifically, the CIA consistently represented that, as a result of the CIA's enhanced interrogation techniques, KSM provided the first information on a money transfer by Majid Khan that eventually led to Hambali's capture. These CIA representations were inaccurate. Majid Khan, who was in foreign government custody, provided this information prior to any reporting from KSM. CIA records indicate that the intelligence that led to Hambali's capture in Thailand was based on signals intelligence, a CIA source, and Thai investigative activities.
Although there has been some somewhat excited response to the news that the CIA engaged in Rectal Feeding and Rehydration of some detainees, or telling others that their families and wives would be raped and murdered, and threatening people with a power drill [ala Scandal] if they didn't talk. I think the fact that far more detainees than have been previously admitted to were subject to these methods, and that so many of them occurred without the approval and direction of CIA Headquarters is quite disturbing. But what's even worse than that is the consistent and clear pattern of Lies and Fraud perpetrated at the top of the CIA, in countervention of information coming from the Detention Centers themselves about how much cooperation they were receiving before these techniques were deployed and how time and time again, claims about the success of techniques were overblown, exaggerated and just plain Flat Out Wrong. This was a coverup. This was a long standing pattern and practice of Fraud against the American People, against the Congress and I have admit even against the Bush Administration, who were clearly misled on just about every aspect of this program from the top to the bottom. Even today John Brennan continues to argue that "Torture Worked".
Our review indicates that interrogations of detainees on whom EITs were used did produce intelligence that helped thwart attack plans, capture terrorists, and save lives. The intelligence gained from the program was critical to our understanding of al-Qa’ida and continues to inform our counterterrorism efforts to this day.
But the Senate report, which is based on the CIA's own internal records, shows that that claim is simply, plainly, Not. True. Rather than only having to recover from the shame of what these programs physically and psychologically inflicted on these detainees, not to mention how these techniques were later replicated at Abu Ghraib leading to the death of several detainees there, the true stain that now needs to be erased is the long, sad, painful and now easy to follow trail of CIA Lies to excuse, justify and cover up these War Crimes that were perpetrated in our name, and will continue to tarnish our trust in the U.S. intelligence services and our national honor for years to come. Vyan
6:26 PM PT: Two Things, the one person who actually did give us the ID of the courier - Ghul Rahman - was actually tortured after he gave us that information and he was ultimately killed due to hypothermia. He was ordered to be chained in place while sitting on a cold concrete floor without any pants, and he died. [Correction: we actual received the information about the courier from Hassan Ghul who is a different person from Ghal Rahman who died of hypothermia at a black site.] So the reality is actually the Reverse of the Zero Dark Thirty scenario where first the guy is resistant to question and waterboarded, then finally when treated decently - and the subtle threat that his nice treatment could end at any moment - suddenly starts giving up the information they need to have, DID NOT FREAKING HAPPEN that way.
The second issue is why is it the CIA Top brass, and the White House, kept claiming that detainees who the interrogators thought were fully cooperative were "holding back information", and I think that issue is Saddam Hussein. The detainees weren't telling them how Saddam was linked to al Qaeda, and since some people in the Bush Administration - Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz - were convinced that Saddam and Iraq had to have something to do with 9-11 then felt they needed to ramp things up to get the "truth". But they never got any of that information from any of these guys, the first person who ever claimed that Saddam had trained al-Qaeda personnel on the use of chemical weapons was Ibn Sheik al-Libi after he was tortured by the Egyptians. The second person to make this claim, in a forged letter, was the former head of Iraqi Security, a man named Habbush, in exchange for $Millions to resettle himself in Europe as a defector.
So the bottom line is that this program was most likely created not "protect Americans" but instead to prove the unprovable and justify the upcoming Iraq War by placing blame for the 9-11 attacks at Saddam Hussein's feet using Torture.