The Black Banners_ 9_11 and the War Against Al-Qaeda - Ali H. Soufan [202]
[1 word redacted] gave Abu Zubaydah back his clothes, [1 word redacted] switched off the music, and [1 word redacted] let him sleep. [23 words redacted]
[1 word redacted] found it harder to reengage him this time. Boris’s techniques had affected him. [7 words redacted], but eventually [1 word redacted] succeeded, and he reengaged. [1 word redacted] went through photos with him, along with his diary, phone book, and the rest of his personal effects. [24 words redacted]
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[1 word redacted] followed up on Padilla’s dirty bomb idea [112 words redacted]
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Every terrorist [1 word redacted] questioned is different. Sometimes humor is needed to establish rapport. As [1 word redacted] job is to get intelligence from them, [1 word redacted] use whatever legal tools [1 word redacted] can to put them at ease and gain their cooperation. It was odious to sit and laugh with a committed terrorist.
I would think of John O’Neill, my former boss and mentor, who was murdered in the World Trade Center. I would think of Lenny Hatton. Lenny was on his way to work on the morning of 9/11 when he saw the first tower on fire. Instead of continuing to the FBI office, he went to the scene to help. And when the second tower was struck, Lenny ran into the collapsing building to help firemen and other rescuers lead people to safety. He led people out and returned for more. He was killed in the tower. I also thought of the seventeen U.S. sailors killed on the USS Cole. [7 words redacted] But [1 word redacted] had to do it. To save lives and get intelligence, [1 word redacted]’d smile as much as needed.
While there were jokes, [64 words redacted]
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As [1 word redacted] continued to succeed with Abu Zuabydah, Boris and the CIA analysts were also now pushing an explanation as to why the forty-eight hours had failed. As one of them said, “Forty-eight hours isn’t enough sleep deprivation,” and “the body only breaks after forty-eight hours.” One day at the safe house [1 word redacted] saw a big [1 word redacted] leaning against a wall. [29 words redacted] as the next stage in his force continuum once he took over.
The CIA officers told [1 word redacted] that Boris expected the approval to come. [8 words redacted], a clear indication that people at CIA headquarters supported the plan. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” [1 word redacted] told the CIA official. He shrugged his shoulders, as if to say, We have no choice.
[16 words redacted] told the CIA official [1 word redacted] wanted to try it. [61 words redacted]“This is insane,” [1 word redacted] told him, and walked off. He nodded in agreement, with a discouraged look on his face.
[1 word redacted] realized that CIA headquarters was not going to stop Boris’s experiments. [1 word redacted] protests were being ignored. Boris was being given a blank check by the White House and CIA headquarters, and was being urged on by CIA analysts on the ground. Their lack of expertise and fear of the unknown would just lead them to authorize crazier and more abusive things that wouldn’t work. The experiments would become more and more cruel, thus reducing the chances of getting reliable intelligence from Abu Zubaydah in the future. For the first time, [1 word redacted] began to wonder whether the real intent of the people back in Washington was to collect intelligence.
What [1 word redacted] had seen Boris try until now struck [1 word redacted] as borderline torture. [1 word redacted] had stayed on because [1 word redacted] had hoped in [1 word redacted] heart that someone in