5/14/09

As the Obama administration continues to weigh its options for cleaning up the mess left behind by the Bush administration – including how to deal with photos of detainees as well as how to try and detain terror suspects – experienced interrogator Ali Soufan yesterday gave the most detailed, professional critique to date of how bush Administration torture was both ineffective and counter-productive.  Soufan, who through traditional interrogation techniques of Abu Zubaydah discovered that Khalid Sheikh Mohammad was the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, made clear that once interrogators began torturing Zubaydah he stopped talking.  Soufan also explained that the Bush “enhanced interrogation techniques” were much slower than the knowledge based approach professional interrogators had developed for such situations, thus refuting the “ticking time bomb” straw man that is often used to justify torture.  Soufan – who worked on some of highest profile terrorism cases for the FBI, summed it up this way:  “The mistake was so costly precisely because the situation was, and remains, too risky to allow someone to experiment with amateurish, Hollywood style interrogation methods – that in reality – taints sources, risks outcomes, ignores the end game, and diminishes our moral high ground in a battle that is impossible to win without first capturing the hearts and minds around the world. It was one of the worst and most harmful decisions made in our efforts against al Qaeda.”

Former FBI terrorist interrogator Ali Soufan,  who through traditional interrogation methods of Abu Zubaydah was able to ascertain that Khalid Sheikh Mohammad was the 9/11 mastermind, condemned torture as ineffective.  “A former agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation who interrogated a top al-Qaida leader says harsh techniques used by the previous Bush administration were not effective and caused the detainee to stop giving information,” reported Voice of America.  Former FBI agent, Ali Soufan, told the Senate Judiciary Committee that torture, “from an operational perspective, are slow, ineffective, unreliable, and harmful to our efforts to defeat al-Qaida,” – effectively rebutting conservative arguments that torture can sometimes be necessary.  He specifically discussed the case of Abu Zubaydah:  “The case of the terrorist Abu Zubaydah is a good example of where the success of the Informed Interrogation Approach can be contrasted with the failure of the harsh technique approach…Immediately after Abu Zubaydah was captured, a fellow FBI agent and I were flown to meet him at an undisclosed location…We started interrogating him, supported by CIA officials who were stationed at the location, and within the first hour of the interrogation, using the Informed Interrogation Approach, we gained important actionable intelligence…A few days after we started questioning Abu Zubaydah, the CTC interrogation team finally arrived from DC with a contractor who was instructing them on how they should conduct the interrogations, and we were removed. Immediately, on the instructions of the contractor, harsh techniques were introduced, starting with nudity…The new techniques did not produce results as Abu Zubaydah shut down and stopped talking…We then returned to using the Informed Interrogation Approach. Within a few hours, Abu Zubaydah again started talking and gave us important actionable intelligence.”  [Voice of America, 5/14/09. Ali Soufan, 5/13/09]

Soufan testified that torture is slower and less effective than the methods established in the Army Field Manual, making its use inexcusable even in the “ticking time-bomb” scenario.  One argument that many conservatives have been making is that torture is necessary under a so-called “ticking time-bomb scenario.”  Charles Krauthammer for example wrote, “Torture is an impermissible evil. Except under two circumstances. The first is the ticking time bomb. An innocent's life is at stake. The bad guy you have captured possesses information that could save this life. He refuses to divulge.” In reality, as Soufan explained in his testimony, the techniques that torture apologists advocate are slower and less effective than the techniques in the Army Field Manual.  Soufan testified that a “major problem with this technique is that it is slow. It takes place over a long period of time, for example preventing the detainee from sleeping for 180 hours as the memos detail, or waterboarding 183 times in the case of KSM. When we have an alleged ‘ticking time bomb’ scenario and need to get information quickly, we can't afford to wait that long.”  The legal techniques laid out in the Army Field Manual are in fact quicker and more effective in time of an emergency, as Soufan explained: “The Army Field Manual is not about being nice or soft. It is a knowledge-based approach. It is about outwitting the detainee by using a combination of interpersonal, cognitive, and emotional strategies to get the information needed. If done correctly it's an approach that works quickly and effectively because it outwits the detainee using a method that he is not trained, or able, to resist.” [Charles Krauthammer, 5/01/09. Ali Soufan, 5/13/09]

Bush administration torture techniques have imperiled our troops.  Intelligence experts believe that torture has resulted in the deaths of “at least hundreds but more likely thousands” of Americans at the hands of terrorists.  The retired Air Force major who uses the pseudonym Matthew Alexander – the interrogator who located the notorious terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi – believes that Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo were the main reasons fighters came to Iraq to attack Americans. He has stated that torture programs are responsible for thousands of American deaths. “I listened time and time again to foreign fighters, and Sunni Iraqis, state that the number one reason they had decided to pick up arms and join Al Qaeda was the abuses at Abu Ghraib and the authorized torture and abuse at Guantanamo Bay. My team of interrogators knew that we would become Al Qaeda's best recruiters if we resorted to torture... The number-one reason foreign fighters gave for coming to Iraq to fight is the torture and abuse that occurred at Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo. The majority of suicide bombings are carried out by foreign fighters who volunteered and came to Iraq with this motivation. Consequently it is clear that at least hundreds but more likely thousands of American lives (not to count Iraqi civilian deaths) are linked directly to the policy decision to introduce the torture and abuse of prisoners as accepted tactics.”  Navy General Counsel Alberto Mora explains that these practices lead directly to American deaths: “Serving U.S. flag-rank officers... maintain that the first and second identifiable causes of U.S. combat deaths in Iraq – as judged by their effectiveness in recruiting insurgent fighters into combat – are, respectively the symbols of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo.”  Moreover, a Senate Armed Services Committee report found that torture intensifies the threat from al-Qaeda and other extremist groups: “Al Qaeda and Taliban terrorists are taught to expect Americans to abuse them. They are recruited based on false propaganda that says the United States is out to destroy Islam. Treating detainees harshly only reinforces that distorted view, increases resistance to cooperation, and creates new enemies.”  [Harper’s Magazine, 12/18/08. Alberto Mora, 6/17/08. Senate Armed Services Committee, 12/08]

Torture diminishes America’s moral high ground, hurting our international credibility to act as a world leader.  In his testimony yesterday, Soufan highlighted the global costs:  “The mistake was so costly precisely because the situation was, and remains, too risky to allow someone to experiment with amateurish, Hollywood style interrogation methods- that in reality- taints sources, risks outcomes, ignores the end game, and diminishes our moral high ground in a battle that is impossible to win without first capturing the hearts and minds around the world. It was one of the worst and most harmful decisions made in our efforts against al Qaeda.”  General Petraeus made a similar point to his troops in Iraq in a 2007 letter: “This fight depends on securing the population, which must understand that, we—not our enemies—occupy the moral high ground… Some may argue that we would be more effective if we sanctioned torture or other expedient methods to obtain information from the enemy. They would be wrong. Beyond the basic fact that such actions are illegal, history shows that they also are frequently neither useful nor necessary.” [Ali Soufan, 5/13/09. David Petraeus, 5/11/07]

What We’re Reading

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Jordan to speak with King Abdullah II, who said that Israel must accept a Palestinian state.

In the West Bank, Pope Benedict XVI criticized Israel on its Palestinian policy.  He also urged Muslims and Christians to repair the damage between them.

The Washington Post reveals the secret memoirs of former head of the Chinese Communist Party, Zhao Ziyang, in which he criticized the crackdown on the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.

North Korea will try two American journalists, held since March, in June.

The arrest of local Iraqi strongman, Nadhim Khalil, underlines the “free-for-all of loyalties” as U.S. forces withdraw.

Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will face trial for allegedly breaching the conditions of her house arrest.

The first Congressional effort to look into Bush administration detainee policy opened with a highly partisan hearing.

The New York Times profiles the U.S. fight against the Taliban in Korangal Valley, Afghanistan.  The Wall Street Journal writes about how a U.S. base expansion in Zabul province disrupted access to agricultural canals, alienating locals and handing the Taliban a propaganda victory before U.S. troops even hit the ground.

The U.S. and allies set October as a deadline for progress with Iran. If benchmarks on nuclear negotiations are not set by then, sanctions will follow. The move is meant to reassure Israel and Arab states.

Commentary of the Day

Richard N. Haass writes about how to define success in foreign policy.

Will Dobson argues that the task of democracy promotion is more complex than just depending on falling oil prices, and that promoting civil society and intrinsic freedoms will go far in spreading democracy around the globe.

The LA Times urges President Obama to release the torture photos.

Cindy McCain, wife of Sen. John McCain, says that the U.S. needs to lead on fixing the humanitarian crisis in the DR Congo.