The Black Banners

me and asked if I’d write an opinion piece, and I accepted.

The next day, Wednesday, April 22, 2009, the New York Times ran the piece, entitled “My Tortured Decision.” It attracted attacks from both the left and the right, with the right upset that I was attacking the techniques and the left upset that I had argued against the prosecution of CIA officials involved in the program. I told people who questioned why I opposed prosecutions that many of the CIA officers I had worked with had themselves objected to the techniques. Some had left the location, and even the agency, in protest. Those who had used the EITs had done so on the orders of higher-ups, and with the support of administration lawyers writing legal opinions authorizing the techniques. Any prosecutions, I said, needed to start at the very top, where the orders originated, and not with some sacrificial lambs at the bottom of the chain. It’s also important to remember that CIA officers complained about the program to their inspector general, which is why he launched his investigation in the first place.

Because of the op-ed, I was called to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, under oath, about what had happened. None of the people who had authorized the EITs would consent to appear before the committee against me. They probably didn’t want to commit perjury. One of the other witnesses was Philip Zelikow, who also opposed the techniques during his time in the State Department.

I [1 word redacted] for the committee [7 words redacted] explained how interrogations should work, and why EITs wouldn’t work. I concluded: “For the last seven years, it was not easy objecting to these methods when they had powerful backers. I stood up then for the same reason I’m willing to take on critics now, because I took an oath swearing to protect this great nation. I could not stand by quietly while our country’s safety was endangered and our moral standing damaged.”

The defenders of the program had propagated so many falsehoods about the alleged successes of the EITS that many people in Washington were deceived, including Senator Lindsey Graham, a respected committee member. This came out during one exchange:

SENATOR GRAHAM: Now, about the interrogation of this suspect, do you know a gentleman named John K- I-R-I-A-K-O-U?

MR. SOUFAN: Me?

SENATOR GRAHAM: Yes.

MR. SOUFAN: No, I do not know him.

SENATOR GRAHAM: Okay. He gave an interview—he is a retired CIA officer, and he said Abu Zubaydah—is that the guy’s name?

MR. SOUFAN: Yes.

SENATOR GRAHAM: Did I say it right? He said that they waterboarded the guy and he broke within 35 seconds.

MR. SOUFAN: Is this question for me, sir?

SENATOR GRAHAM: Yes.

MR. SOUFAN: Well, last week, he retracted that and he said he was misinformed, [10 words redacted].

SENATOR GRAHAM: Okay. So he just—

MR. SOUFAN: He retracted that, yes, sir. That is one of the things that was mentioned before.

President Barack Obama publicly denounced the EIT program and said that never again would those coercive techniques be used. He also set up a presidential commission to make recommendations on how to move forward and improve our interrogation program, and I was asked to brief the commission.

“You catch more flies with honey than vinegar,” I began. I went on to explain that knowledge of the detainee and of the group, and of both the detainee’s and the group’s background, is crucial to any interrogation. I explained that torture doesn’t work. “It produces at best compliance, but not cooperation, which is what you need for a successful and reliable interrogation.”

“But,” one commission member asked, “if al-Qaeda learns your interrogation method, won’t they be able to train their operatives to prepare for it?”

“That’s impossible,” I replied with a smile, “because no two interrogations are ever the same.”

“Why not?”

“Just as no two detainees are exactly the same. Whether it’s a different childhood, a different experience in al-Qaeda, or a different intellect, no two interrogations are ever exactly the same. The Informed Interrogation Approach isn’t about following a series of steps, it’s about playing what you know about the detainee against him and outwitting him.”

“So every time you got a detainee to cooperate, it was with a different approach?”

“Yes. With Abu Jandal, for example, we trapped him in his lies and his ego. With Ali al-Bahlul, bin Laden’s secretary and propagandist, we played on his commitment to al-Qaeda and his religious knowledge. With L’Houssaine Kherchtou the important point was al-Qaeda’s refusal to pay for a Cesarean section for his wife. And with [1 word redacted], it was his childhood feelings toward his brother that flipped him.

“To put it in different terms, think of dating. If you think there’s a magic formula and five words that will win you success, you’ve never been on a date. The same remark that somehow led one person to throw a drink in your face might have an entirely different effect on someone else. Everyone is different. And naturally you’ll have more success if you know all about your date’s likes and dislikes.

“Every detainee is different, and for each interview you need to have a unique strategy—based on knowledge.” That hit home.

CONCLUSION

“I’m back with the people I was with before,” Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti told an old friend on the phone, according to the Washington Post. It was the spring of 2010, and Abu Ahmed, a Kuwaiti of Pakistani origin, was being deliberately vague in response to his friend’s queries about what he was up to, with good reason: he was one of Osama bin Laden’s key links to the outside world, serving as a courier. Any slipup from him could lead intelligence officials to the world’s most wanted terrorist.

“May God facilitate,” was the reply from the friend, as if he understood what Abu Ahmed wasn’t saying. It also made sense to U.S. investigators listening in on the conversation: they had been monitoring the friend in the hope of snagging the Kuwaiti. Now they finally had his cell phone number.

In early 2002 detainees at Guantanamo told us about the last time they had seen bin Laden: escaping from the Tora Bora mountain range as Northern Alliance troops (backed by U.S. forces) advanced, accompanied only by Hamza al-Ghamdi, a Saudi, and Yousef al-Qanas, a Kuwaiti. Prior to arriving at Tora Bora, bin Laden had reshuffled his bodyguards and picked a group of nine trusted aides to accompany him, among them his son Uthman and the Saudi and Kuwaiti nationals.

At the same time, we also learned that a Kuwaiti operative (who would turn out to be Abu Ahmed al- Kuwaiti) was playing a central role in bin Laden’s new, post–Tora Bora al-Qaeda. The CIA and others in the U.S. intelligence community put possible acquaintances and probable hangouts under surveillance, hoping to find Abu Ahmed. This paid dividends in the spring of 2010, and that recorded conversation gave investigators his cell phone number.

The number was monitored, and an investigation—using assets, sources, data mining, detective work, and both old-fashioned tailing by CIA operatives and sleek surveillance using the latest high-level technology—eventually led to a one-acre compound in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad.

The city, less than forty miles from the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, houses the Kakul Military Academy—a training academy often described as the Pakistani version of West Point or Sandhurst, the premier U.S. and UK military academies. Senior Pakistani officials, as well as important foreign visitors, often visit the academy. In February 2010, for example, U.S. general David Petraeus was a visitor.

Abbottabad was therefore, at first glance, one of the last places an al-Qaeda leader might be expected to hide, which, on reflection, is perhaps what made it attractive. While many intelligence analysts expected al-Qaeda’s leaders to be hiding in rural areas, several senior al-Qaeda members had already been captured in major cities: Ramzi Binalshibh, for example, was caught in Karachi, and his boss, KSM, in Rawalpindi.

The compound was surrounded by twelve-foot walls topped by barbed wire. It had no telephone or Internet