CIA Interrogator Reveals How Osama Bin Laden Was Found

Daily Mail: CIA interrogator reveals how the agency tracked down Bin Laden by piecing together what his comrades at Guantanamo Bay let slip

* Dr James Mitchell, the author of Enhanced Interrogation, appeared on Fox & Friends on Monday
* He revealed how interrogating Anmar al-Baluchi and Khalid Sheikh Muhammed gave away Bin Laden's whereabouts
* The nephew and uncle were imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay when they revealed Bin Laden had a courier
* That courier was later found with a cell phone signal and followed to the Abbottabad compound where Bin Laden was hiding
* Tuesday marks the sixth anniversary of the Al-Qaeda leader's killing

A CIA-hired interrogator revealed on Monday how the agency tracked down Osama Bin Laden by putting together snippets of information let slip by prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.

Dr James Mitchell, the author of Enhanced Interrogation, appeared on Fox & Friends on Monday to mark the eve of the sixth anniversary of Bin Laden's death.

He revealed how he worked with other interrogators to glean information from two of the terrorist's trusted confidantes to find out where he was hiding in Pakistan.

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WNU Editor: This story will never get old. Dr James Mitchell has no reservations or regrets the role that enhanced interrogations had in finding Osama Bin Laden.

Will There Be A New CIA 'Enhanced Interrogation' Program Under A Trump Administration?

Photo: Jose Rodriguez (Wikipedia)

Kimberly Dozier, Daily Beast: Trump Backer Pushes for New CIA ‘Enhanced Interrogation’

Jose Rodriguez destroyed tapes of interrogations during the Bush years, and he says the next president should go further than waterboarding terrorist suspects.

The former senior CIA officer who championed waterboarding hopes President-elect Donald Trump will bring back harsh interrogation methods—and bring the CIA back into the business of interrogating terrorist suspects.

“We have to be able to capture terrorists. We have to be able to interrogate them. We don’t do that anymore,” said Jose Rodriguez, who led the CIA’s clandestine service during the Bush administration.

A Trump supporter, Rodriguez said he didn’t want to lead the CIA, though he has been named as a possible pick. But he does want to bring back some form of now-illegal interrogation measures, like waterboarding, sleep deprivation, and other so-called “enhanced interrogation methods” approved by the Bush White House to question terrorist suspects in the wake of the al Qaeda attacks of 9/11.

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WNU Editor: The temptation and the sentiment is there to have a new CIA enhanced interrogation (at least among some in the Trump transition team). But will this become policy .... hmmmm .... I doubt it .... there are far more important issues to focus on than this one.

Two Ex-CIA Detainees Describe Four Previously Unknown Interrogation Tools

The lobby of the CIA Headquarters Building in McLean, Virginia, August 14, 2008. REUTERS/Larry Downing

Washington Post: CIA prisoners allege they faced version of waterboarding

Two men who were held at a CIA prison in Afghanistan have told a human rights group that they were subjected to a version of waterboarding at a detention site where the agency has insisted the brutal method was never used.

The allegations were detailed in a report released Monday by Human Rights Watch based on extensive interviews with two Tunisian men who were returned to that country last year after spending 13 years in U.S. custody, almost all of it at a prison complex at Bagram air base in Afghanistan.

Ridha al-Najjar and Lotfi al-Arabi El Gherissi both recounted being strapped to a board, spun around and doused with water until left gasping for air, according to the report.

The torture they described closely resembles the most notorious of the interrogation methods the CIA used on terrorism suspects after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, adding to the suspicion that the technique was employed more broadly than the agency has publicly acknowledged.

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More News On Two Ex-CIA Detainees Describe Four Previously Unknown Interrogation Tools

Ex-detainees say CIA used makeshift electric chair in secret Afghan prison: rights group -- Reuters
Ex-CIA detainees describe previously unknown interrogation tool -- The Hill
Former CIA Detainees Describe Previously Unknown Torture Tactic: A Makeshift Electric Chair -- The Intercept
Tunisian men detail CIA black site torture involving electric chair and more -- The Guardian
Ex-CIA torture survivors describe makeshift electric chair as tactic -- RT
Ex-CIA Detainees Revealed 4 Unreported Methods of Torture -- Sputnik

Declassified CIA Files Pertaining To Enhanced Interrogations Have Been Released

The Guardian: Declassified CIA file: detainee would probably have cooperated before torture

Medical personnel involved in the agency’s first waterboarding effort raised doubts about need for method, in contrast with longstanding CIA claims

Medical personnel who aided in the CIA’s first simulated drowning found that the detainee who endured it was probably willing to cooperate before his torture. They even mocked agency defenses of waterboarding as “creative but circular”, according to an extraordinary declassified document.

In an assessment devastating years of CIA and allied insistences that waterboarding was a critically important intelligence-gathering technique, the undated and heavily redacted document attributed to the chief of the CIA’s Office of Medical Services (OMS), states that detainee Abu Zubaydah’s cooperation with interrogators in 2002 “did not correlate that well with his waterboard sessions”.

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More News On The Declassified CIA Files Pertaining To Enhanced Interrogations

Detainees Describe C.I.A. Torture in Declassified Transcripts -- NYT
Documents shed light on CIA torture program -- AFP
CIA documents detail waterboarding of suspects after 9/11 -- CBS
Voices of Detainees and Dissent in New CIA “Enhanced Interrogation” Documents -- Frontline
Declassified CIA File: Bin-Laden Aide Stopped Providing Intel After Torture -- Sputnik
CIA releases declassified documents on interrogations -- Politico
CIA releases guidelines on torture of post-9/11 detainees -- The Independent
Newly Released CIA Documents Cite Invaluable Interrogation Program -- VOA

U.S. Interrogation Team Sent To Iraq

In this photo, reviewed by the Defense Department, leg shackles are seen on the floor at Camp 6 detention center, at the U.S. Naval Base, in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, January 21, 2009. REUTERS/Brennan Linsley/Pool

Missy Ryan, Washington Post: U.S. interrogation team sent to Iraq to question first Islamic State detainee

An American interrogation team is questioning the United States’ first Islamic State detainee in hopes that the Iraqi woman, the widow of a senior Islamic State militant, will provide clues about the group’s handling of foreign hostages, U.S. officials said Monday.

A team known as the High Value Detainee Interrogation Group, which includes officials from the FBI, CIA and Pentagon, was sent to Iraq to question the detainee, who has been identified only as Umm Sayyaf, or “mother of Sayyaf.” Her husband, known as Abu Sayyaf, was killed this weekend after a team of Delta Force soldiers descended on a militant compound in eastern Syria.

A defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing interrogation, said the woman would be asked for information about where and how the group had gained custody of foreign hostages and held them.

WNU Editor: I will be surprised if they are able to get information out of this detainee.

U.S. Senate Report Criticizes The CIA's Handling Of It's Interrogation Program

Reuters / Larry Downing

CIA Misled On Interrogation Program, Senate Report Says -- Washington Post

A report by the Senate Intelligence Committee concludes that the CIA misled the government and the public about aspects of its brutal interrogation program for years — concealing details about the severity of its methods, overstating the significance of plots and prisoners, and taking credit for critical pieces of intelligence that detainees had in fact surrendered before they were subjected to harsh techniques.

The report, built around detailed chronologies of dozens of CIA detainees, documents a long-standing pattern of unsubstantiated claims as agency officials sought permission to use — and later tried to defend — excruciating interrogation methods that yielded little, if any, significant intelligence, according to U.S. officials who have reviewed the document.

Read more ....

More News On The U.S. Senate Report Criticizing The CIA's Handling Of It's Interrogation Program

Senate Report Blasts CIA’s Handling of Interrogation Program -- Time
Senate report: Waterboarding didn't lead to Osama bin Laden -- AP
Waterboarding did NOT provide any key evidence in hunt for Osama bin Laden, controversial Senate torture report concludes -- Daily Mail
CIA Interrogations Criticized in Senate Report -- Wall Street Journal
Report: Review finds torture methods not key in bin Laden hunt -- The Hill
Senate report claims evidence obtained by enhanced techniques did not help bin Laden hunt, report says -- FOX News
CIA lied about torture’s effectiveness, according to unreleased Senate report -- RT
Report: CIA misled US on torture of prisoners -- Al Jazeera

My Comment: The report is still classified .... but I would love to know how the U.S. Senate came to such a conclusion.

U.S. Navy Ships On The High Seas Are Becoming The New Guantanamo For Captured Terrorists

The USS San Antonio where Abu Anas al-Libi is currently being held. Photo: Reuters

What Happens When An Al Qaeda Suspect Is Detained At Sea? -- Wells Bennett, New Republic

The United States’ handling of Al-Qaeda operative Abu Anas Al-Liby, seized over the weekend, broadly resembles its handling of another high-profile counterterrorism capture, in 2011: that of Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame, a commander in Somalia’s al Shabaab and a broker of weapons transfers to that group from Al-Qaeda’s Yemeni affiliate. Like Al-Liby, Warsame was captured abroad, detained on a U.S. Navy ship under the laws of war, and interrogated by military and intelligence personnel. And like Warsame was, Al-Liby will—after some period of detention—presumably be moved to the criminal system. It’s a one-two combination of military detention and civilian criminal justice, which the Obama administration has pioneered.

And yet the case against Al-Liby, a suspect in a long-running Al-Qaeda prosecution, is somewhat different from Warsame’s, in that Al-Liby has been under indictment for more than a decade. This stands to bolster the United States’ position, once it shifts from detention and intelligence gathering to prosecuting Al-Liby for his role in a sprawling terrorism conspiracy that included two 1998 attacks on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

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More News On U.S. Navy Ships Being Used To Detain Terror Suspects For Interrogation

Did Obama Swap 'Black' Detention Sites for Ships? -- AP
Go Inside the Navy Ship Officials Say Is Holding Al Qaeda Suspect -- ABC News
Official: Captured al-Qaida leader brought to amphib for interrogation -- Marine Times
US Hopes to Gain al-Qaida Intel from Libya Suspect -- Voice of America
Elite U.S. team questions seized al Qaeda leader on Navy ship -- Reuters
How the U.S. Is Interrogating a Qaeda Suspect -- New York Times
So, You Captured an al Qaeda Terrorist and Are Holding Him at Sea. Now What? -- J. Dana Stuster, Passport/Foreign Policy
Don't send alleged al Qaeda fighter to Guantanamo -- David Frakt, Special to CNN (Commentary)
Do the Geneva Conventions Apply to the Detention of al-Libi? -- John Bellinger, Lawfare

Is U.S. Security Threatened By Not Interrogating High-Value Terrorists?

U.S. Security Threatened After CIA Put ‘Out Of Business’ Of Getting Intel From Terror Leaders, Former CIA Chief Says -- Washington Free Beacon

The Obama administration has taken the CIA “out of the business” of interrogating high-value terrorists and the lack of data is endangering the U.S. security, according to former CIA counterterrorism chief Jose A. Rodriguez.

If U.S. intelligence or military personnel capture a senior terror leader today, no system is in place or facilities set up where he could be questioned, said the 31-year agency veteran who was awarded several medals for his intelligence work before retiring in 2007.

Read more ....

My Comment: It seems that the policy (now) is to assassinate terror targets .... and to then pick up the pieces later. Will this work to deter future attacks .... probably not.

The Life Of A CIA Interrogator

Education Of An Interrogator: Questioning The CIA -- NPR

Glenn Carle's bosses asked him if he could go on a trip — one that would last somewhere between 30 and 60 days. His job? To interrogate a man suspected of being a top member of al-Qaida.

It was 2002 and, in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, the U.S. was heavily engaged in its "War on Terror." Carle, a former CIA intelligence officer, was "surged" to become an interrogator and sent to one of the agency's secret overseas facilities. He writes about his experience in his new book, The Interrogator: An Education.

Carle tells NPR's Mary Louise Kelly that he was told to do whatever it took to make the man talk. When Carle questioned his superiors, saying, "We don't do that," they replied, "We do now."

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My Comment: This is a job that I would have zero interest in taking .... and I have trouble believing that Glenn Carle was not sure on what he was getting into when he first took the job. Was he that ignorant? Hmmmm ... I have my doubts.

Journey Into The CIA's Heart Of Darkness

Photo: Interrogator: Glenn Carle, who has written a tell-all memoir about his time with the agency, said some people would call him a 'torturer'

Journey Into The CIA's Heart Of Darkness: Ex-Agent Reveals 'Torture' Of Terror Suspect In Secret Prison Dubbed 'Hotel California' -- The Daily Mail

Ordered to 'psychologically dislocate' his prisoner
Faced agonising decision after concluding detainee was innocent
Had to tell CIA bosses he was in love with his girlfriend - before he told her

A former CIA operative has described how he was torn between serving his country and refusing to 'torture' a man he believed was innocent.

Glenn Carle has written a shocking new tell-all memoir detailing his time with the agency in which he confessed that some people would call him a 'torturer'.

Read more ....

Update #1: ‘Some Will Call Me a Torturer’: CIA Man Reveals Secret Jail -- Danger Room
Update #2: "The Interrogator:" A CIA insider's crisis of conscience -- Salon

My Comment: 40% of the book was redacted .... this should givesone an idea on how sensitive this topic still is within the CIA.

U.S. Senator Calls For A Review On CIA Interrogation Techniques, And Did It Help In Finding Bin Laden

Photo: Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.)

Freshman Senator Wants To Know If Waterboarding Helped Nab Bin Laden -- The Hill

Freshman Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on Thursday advocated for a review to determine whether or not advanced interrogation techniques, including waterboarding, assisted the CIA in finding Osama bin Laden.

"We need to find out how this information was gathered," Rubio said in an interview with the news website Tampa Bay Online.

Read more ....

My Comment: I completely agree with Sen. Marco Rubio. In fact .... this is exactly what I said was needed just a few days ago.But will the Democratic controlled Senate and the White House conduct such an investigation and analysis .... as I had said a few days ago .... I doubt it.

I Guess Those Extreme Interrogation Techniques Do Work

Bin Laden's Death Rekindles 'Enhanced' Interrogation Debate -- MSNBC

Did high-pressure questioning of suspected terrorists lead to al-Qaida leader?

The trail that led to the doorstep of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan began years earlier with aggressive interrogations of al-Qaida detainees at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay and CIA “black site" prisons overseas, according to U.S. officials.

It was those sometimes controversial interrogations that first produced descriptions of members of bin Laden’s courier network, including one critical Middle Eastern courier who along with his brother was protecting bin Laden at his heavily fortified compound in Abbottabad on Sunday. Both the courier and his brother were among those killed, along with bin Laden, in the dramatic raid by U.S. special forces.

Read more ....

More News On The Impact That Interrogation techniques May have had On Finding Osama Bin Laden

First strands on bin Laden gathered in CIA prison -- AP
Rep. Michael McCaul: Aggressive interrogations gave U.S. leads on bin Laden location -- Houston Chronicle
One Unwary Phone Call Led US to Bin Laden Doorstep -- ABC News/AP
Will Bin Laden’s Death Reignite the Interrogation Debate? -- Benjamin Wittes, Lawfare
Obama Owes Thanks for Bin Laden Operation to CIA Interrogators -- Marc Thiessen, The American
How the U.S. found and finished Bin Laden -- David Ignatius, Washington Post

My Comment: I still think it is too early to make a judgement call on the effectiveness of enhanced interrogation techniques .... but this information is coming from an administration that has always been opposed to torture .... and they are making it very clear that torturing some of these detainees did produce the information that resulted in Osama Bin Laden being killed this weekend. If this is the case .... some people better start eating crow.

The CIA Is Out Of The Detention And Interrogation Business

CIA Has Slashed Its Terrorism Interrogation Role -- L.A. Times

The agency has stopped trying to detain or interrogate suspects caught abroad, except those captured in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Reporting from Washington — He's considered one of world's most dangerous terrorism suspects, and the U.S. offered a $1-million reward for his capture in 2005. Intelligence experts say he's a master bomb maker and extremist leader who possesses a wealth of information about Al Qaeda-linked groups in Southeast Asia.

Yet the U.S. has made no move to interrogate or seek custody of Indonesian militant Umar Patek since he was apprehended this year by officials in Pakistan with the help of a CIA tip, U.S. and Pakistani officials say.

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My Comment: In the even of another major terrorism attack on U.S. soil, I can hear the chorus line right .... how and why did the CIA fail. Unfortunately for us, harsh interrogations techniques do reveal information, and we in the west are now losing out on this information.

CIA Personnel Will Not Face Criminal Charges For Destroying Interrogation Tapes

No Charges For CIA Tape Destruction: Justice Dept -- Reuters

(Reuters) - No CIA personnel will face criminal charges for destroying videotapes of harsh interrogations of terrorism suspects, the U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday.

While the decision will spare the CIA and the Obama administration the potential backlash and embarrassment that a trial could have generated, another federal probe continues into possible abuse of detainees by CIA personnel.

The videotapes probe was launched in January 2008 by then-U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey after revelations that the CIA in 2005 had destroyed hundreds of hours of videotapes of the interrogations of terrorism suspects Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri.

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My Comment: I am surprised by this development. The Justice Department has no love for the CIA and their complicity in using torture in interrogations. Was this a politically motivated judgment .... probably .... will it impact CIA operations in the future .... definitely not.

Is The U.S.'s New Interrogation Unit Effective?

A courtroom sketch depicts Times Square bomb suspect Faisal Shahzad at his arraignment in New York. (Christine Cornell, Reuters / May 17, 2010)

New Interrogation Unit Aids In Questioning Times Square Bomb Suspect -- L.A. Times

Faisal Shahzad is arraigned after he said he no longer wished to speak with interrogators, who included members of a group established to replace a controversial CIA program.

The Pakistani American accused of trying to bomb Times Square has been questioned with the help of a new interrogation unit that replaced a controversial CIA program dismantled by President Obama, U.S. officials said Tuesday.

The suspect, Faisal Shahzad, appeared in court for the first time Tuesday, two weeks after his May 3 arrest. Wearing gray pants and a gray shirt, he was formally advised of the five felony charges against him, including the attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. In all, he was told, he faces a maximum punishment of two life sentences plus 60 years.

Read more ....

Update: Obama Starts Deploying Interrogation Teams -- New York Times/Reuters

My Comment: There is little if any information on the effectiveness of this unit. My take .... if it was we would be hearing from the administration (non-stop) on how great it is. So far .... nothing .... with the exception of one announcement that mentions that these units have been deployed more than once.

New Rules On Interrogating Terrorism Suspects Proposed

Under Plan, Intelligence Agencies Would Be Consulted Before Reading Of Rights -- Washington Post

The Justice Department and the FBI will consult with the intelligence community on information about terrorism suspects arrested in the United States before deciding whether to read them their Miranda rights under a plan now under review in the White House, according to senior administration officials.

The proposal follows a controversy over the handling of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who is accused in the attempted Christmas Day bombing and who was read his constitutional rights 10 hours after his arrest. Republicans said the decision cost the Obama administration valuable intelligence.

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Update: U.S. reviewing terrorism suspects procedures: report -- Reuters

My Comment: It seems that we are positioning ourselves into more legal twists and turns that .... unfortunately .... will only add more layers of legal protocols and procedures when it comes to interrogating terrorism suspects.

Sighhh .... with each passing day I am developing a greater appreciation on why Guantanamo prison was chosen by the Bush Administration as the center for conducting these interrogations and cross-examinations .... these additional legal procedures and Miranda rights were never necessary.

High-Value Interrogation Group Is Finally Operational

President Obama Announcing The formation Of HIG in 2009.
Photo from The Washington Independent

Long-Awaited High-Value Interrogation Group -- HIG -- Finally Formed -- ABC News

Following the Jan. 20 disclosure that a special interrogation team for high-value terrorist suspects was not yet operational -- months after it was supposed to have been -- the Obama administration approved the charter to create the High-Value Interrogation Group, or HIG, an administration official tells ABC News.

The HIG charter was signed last week by National Security Adviser Gen. Jim Jones (ret.).

Read more ....

My Comment: Another example that illustrates how dysfunctional American's anti-terrorism efforts have become. If this was not publicized, I would wager that this "crack" interrogation unit would still be an idea on some "to do" list in the Administration.

President Obama's 2009 announcement of such a special interrogation unit is here.

Terror Interrogations: Can The CIA And FBI Work Together Again?

From Time Magazine:

If President Obama greenlights a proposal to create an inter-agency team of interrogators to handle terrorist suspects, it will be — as Samuel Johnson said sardonically of second marriages — the triumph of hope over experience. The history of inter-agency cooperation on interrogation is both brief and bleak.

In the aftermath of 9/11, the CIA, lacking experience in interrogating jihadis, turned to experts from a military school where soldiers are trained to resist torture. These experts came up with a range of "coercive" interrogation techniques, including the now-infamous water-board. When these methods were employed at the Guantanamo Bay detention center, the methods led to an angry confrontation over their legality between interrogators from the FBI and the CIA. Eventually, the FBI withdrew from the interrogations — an less than amiable divorce, so to speak.

Read more ....

My Comment: Who would want to have such a job? With Congress preparing to have hearings on what had happened during the past 8 years on suspected terrorists in detention, and with Attorney General Holder preparing to make a decision to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate how interrogations were conducted .... you would have to be a fool to assume responsibility for this department.

You may have the approval of Congress and the President today .... but a different administration in the future may have a different opinion .... and hence start this entire proprietorial process again.

The question is not "Can the CIA and FBI work together again?" .... but do either of them want to even touch this with a 10 foot pole, and if ordered to by the President and Congress .... will their be any "enthusiasm" to take on the mission.

Special Interrogation Units To Be Established For Terrorists?

A detainee strolls inside the open-air yard at the Camp Four detention facility on the Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base in Cuba in May. The Obama administration is considering a plan to overhaul interrogation of 'high-value' detainees. Associated Press

Specialized Interrogation Unit May Be Created -- Washington Post

Personnel Chosen From Different Agencies Would Question High-Value Targets

A Justice Department-led task force reviewing interrogation policy is leaning toward the creation of a small, specialized unit drawing personnel from intelligence, military and law enforcement agencies to question without the use of coercion any future high-value terrorism suspects captured by the United States, according to administration officials.

President Obama ordered an interagency review of interrogation policy in January. The task force, led by a federal prosecutor steeped in national security issues, was charged with determining whether interrogation guidelines in the Army Field Manual are sufficient for other agencies, such as the CIA, that may capture and question suspects outside the United States.

Read more ....

Update: U.S. Weighs Special Team of Terrorism Interrogators -- Wall Street Journal

My Comment: The administration is looking for a way to get intelligence information without using "enhanced interrogation" techniques, and to then be positioned to use this information to prosecute (in a legal setting) the terrorist and/or prisoner who gave this information.

Someone must be dreaming.

U.S. Weighs Special Team of Terrorism Interrogators

A detainee strolls inside the open-air yard at the Camp Four detention facility on the Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base in Cuba in May. The Obama administration is considering a plan to overhaul interrogation of 'high-value' detainees. Associated Press

From The Wall Street Journal:

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration is considering overhauling the way terror suspects are interrogated by creating a small team of professionals drawn from across the government, according to people familiar with a proposal that will be submitted to the White House.

The new unit, comprising members of spy services and law-enforcement agencies, would be used for so-called high-value detainees, they said. In a switch from Bush-era efforts, it wouldn't be run by the Central Intelligence Agency, though who might be in charge isn't specified.

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My Comment: The sentence that got my attention was the following:

.... devise a new set of interrogation methods, .... Those techniques could be drawn from sources ranging from scientific studies to the psychology behind television ads .....

Television ads?

Who are they kidding.