hours. They never came, so [1 word redacted] ended up falling asleep in a room that had red carpet all over the floor and walls. At night guards patrolled the base, and [1 word redacted] were given to under-stand that unless we gave them the right password, [1 word redacted] would be shot.
An [2 words redacted] told us the password—it was in [1 word redacted], the language the [3 words redacted] spoke—and [1 word redacted] wrote it on [1 word redacted] hands and went to sleep. In the middle of the night [1 word redacted] woke up and had just stepped out to the toilet when [1 word redacted] heard a guard shouting at [1 word redacted].
He was speaking [1 word redacted], which made no sense to [1 word redacted], and because [1 word redacted] was half asleep, it took [1 word redacted] a few seconds to realize that he wanted the password. [1 word redacted] tried to read [1 word redacted] hand and shouted out the word, trying a few different pronunciations, and on the fourth or fifth attempt he signaled to [1 word redacted] to pass.
Early the next morning, a few minutes after daybreak, [1 word redacted] was awakened by [1 word redacted] whispering a single sentence in my ear, over and over: “[1 word redacted], wake up, but don’t move; [1 word redacted], wake up, but don’t move.” [1 word redacted] opened one eye and looked at [1 word redacted], who was lying next to [1 word redacted]. He appeared to be asleep—he wasn’t moving, and his eyes were half closed—and [1 word redacted] saw that his fingers were wrapped around his handgun.
“Look,” he said, gesturing with his eyes toward the entrance to the room, “look at those guys watching us.” Out of the corner of [1 word redacted] eye [1 word redacted] saw two [1 word redacted] crouched by the door, staring at [1 word redacted]. [1 word redacted] woke up [3 words redacted] in the same manner that [1 word redacted] had woken [1 word redacted], whispering and instructing them not to move. None of [1 word redacted] spoke [1 word redacted], and [1 word redacted] weren’t sure what to do.
After a few minutes [1 word redacted] decided to break the deadlock, and [1 word redacted] pretended to wake up. [1 word redacted] stretched and slowly stood up, and then turned to the two [1 word redacted] and said, “As-Salamu Alaykum.” Though Arabic, it was a phrase that all Muslims would be familiar with, and one of the [1 word redacted] gave [1 word redacted] a big smile and gestured for [1 word redacted] to follow him.
[1 word redacted] picked up [1 word redacted] gear and weapons and followed him cautiously out of [1 word redacted] room into another, where a man, who [1 word redacted] guessed was the commander, was sitting with breakfast laid out in front of him. He gestured to [1 word redacted] to sit down and, pointing to the food, said, “Eat.” That appeared to be the extent of his English, and he didn’t make any more of an effort to talk to [1 word redacted] after that.
There was tea, bread, and cheese, which [1 word redacted] would have enjoyed if it wasn’t already more than an hour after sunrise and the CIA still hadn’t showed up—despite having assured [1 word redacted] that they would pick [1 word redacted] up last night.
[1 word redacted] knew that the situation in [1 word redacted] was complicated, with tribes regularly switching alliances, so [1 word redacted] began to fear that [1 word redacted] might now really be captives and used as bargaining chips.
After returning to our room, [1 word redacted] took a walk around the base, and spotted an [2 words redacted] jeep with a big picture of [11 words redacted] on the windscreen. As [1 word redacted] stood around the jeep, [1 word redacted] told the others: “Something is wrong, and for whatever reason the CIA are not showing up to pick us up. Either we stay here and wait and see what happens, or we borrow this jeep and head to [1 word redacted].”
The others agreed that [1 word redacted] should take the jeep. [1 word redacted] had no GPS and little idea how to get to [1 word redacted], but staying seemed too risky. [1 word redacted] signaled to the [1 word redacted], who had been watching [1 word redacted], that [1 word redacted] just wanted to take the jeep for a ride around the area, which [1 word redacted] explained by making a driving motion with [1 word redacted] arms, and then a circle motion with [1 word redacted] fingers. They smiled and nodded.
“Do you know how to drive [9 words redacted] asked. [8 words redacted]
“Do you see any roads around here to drive on?” [1 word redacted] asked, and everyone laughed. There were just dirt paths and barren terrain all around.
Using our memory of how [1 word redacted] had arrived at the base, [1 word redacted] tried to navigate [1 word redacted] way back. [1 word redacted] passed lots of [2 words redacted] jeeps and tanks and had to drive around a huge crater clearly made by a big bomb. By what we could only attribute to the grace of God [1 word redacted] found [1 word redacted] way back to [1 word redacted] and made [1 word redacted] way to the local CIA base was. When the officials saw [1 word redacted], their faces turned white.
“What are you doing here? How did you get here?” one of them stammered.
“We borrowed a jeep,” [1 word redacted] replied.
“We were planning to get you—we just got busy with other things,” another one said lamely.
From then on [1 word redacted] used that jeep whenever [1 word redacted] needed to travel, not wishing to rely on local CIA officials and get stranded again. When [1 word redacted] returned to the United States, [1 word redacted] left the truck near the CIA safe house, and when [1 word redacted] returned a few months later it was still there—and [1 word redacted] used it again.
From the CIA safe house [1 word redacted] wrote up the intelligence [1 word redacted] had gained from the [1 word redacted] detainees and sent it through the CIA to FBI headquarters, as the CIA had insisted we only use their system to file any reports. That’s when Samantha came to see me.
The arrangement she proposed was that [1 word redacted] interview Binalshibh and [1 word redacted] without [3 words redacted] present. A CTC officer would be in the room. [4 words redacted] colleagues were in a better position to interview Binalshibh than [1 word redacted] was, since they had been following him.
“Why does that matter?” Samantha asked. “You know al-Qaeda.”
“[3 words redacted] have the small details, and that’s what you use to show the detainees you know all about them, and how you catch them on any lies. [3 words redacted] know what questions to ask Binalshibh and what he should know. So either let them come in with me, or send them in instead, and I’ll do the [1 word redacted] interview.”
“I’m sorry but only you can go in. They can stay outside and watch on CCTV. If you need to run anything by them, they will be there.” Since we had been using CCTV at Gitmo, [1 word redacted] thought it might work, and as [1 word redacted] had no choice anyway, [1 word redacted] accepted.
“Okay,” [1 word redacted] told Samantha, “let’s try that.”
[1 word redacted] went back to the detention facility, on the outskirts of the city, and while [1 word redacted] waited for the [1 word redacted] guards to bring Binalshibh into the interrogation room, [1 word redacted] discovered that the CCTV system had no audio. It meant that [3 words redacted] could watch what was going on but not hear anything.
The [1 word redacted] brought Binalshibh into the room, pushed him onto the floor, and handcuffed him to the wall. He looked exactly like the picture [1 word redacted] had of him on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list, which was unusual, as terrorists rarely look exactly like the pictures [1 word redacted] have of them. Usually they’ve changed their appearance to disguise their identities, or they try to appear serious in pictures. The pictures of Abu Jandal, for example, show an unsmiling, tough-looking character, but in person he’s full of smiles, once engaged.
[1 word redacted] shuddered inwardly as he walked in, because here was someone directly culpable for 9/11. While [1 word redacted] had interrogated more important al-Qaeda members, Binalshibh was the first directly involved in coordinating the death of so many Americans. But to succeed with him, [1 word redacted] needed to remain collected and in control of the situation, so [1 word redacted] calmly asked the [1 word redacted] to undo his handcuffs.
After the guards stepped out, [1 word redacted] briefly introduced [1 word redacted] and told him: “[42 words redacted]”
[28 words redacted]
[10 words redacted]
Binalshibh had done an interview with al-Jazeera a few days earlier in which he proudly admitted his role in 9/11, providing a detailed account of the planning and execution phases of the plot. [45 words redacted]
[64 words redacted]
[4 words redacted]
