The Black Banners_ 9_11 and the War Against Al-Qaeda - Ali H. Soufan [239]
[1 word redacted] ignored him, took off his chains, handed him a towel to cover himself, and sat down on the floor next to him. He looked away. [78 words redacted]
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[21 words redacted] knew that he had figured out who the person in the story was.
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[2 words redacted] had been in jail in Yemen since the [2 words redacted] incident. Even after the other al-Qaeda members arrested for the car thefts were freed, he had been held as a bargaining chip because of the family’s importance to bin Laden. [1 word redacted] hadn’t seen [2 words redacted] in many years.
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[1 word redacted] time with [1 word redacted] was up, and the [1 word redacted] guards took him away.
[1 word redacted] told [3 words redacted] what [1 word redacted] had told [1 word redacted], and [1 word redacted] wrote up the information and disseminated it through CIA channels. [1 word redacted] also called FBI headquarters on a secure phone and let them know what had happened.
“That’s the exact definition of actionable intelligence,” said Pat D’Amuro, [1 word redacted] boss. “If we act on it now, we should be able to stop the plot. And given your clear, undeniable success, they should give you more access to him and change their minds about rendition. I’m going to make sure everyone here is told the good news. Great work.”
[1 word redacted] were in a jubilant mood: [1 word redacted] had gained actionable intelligence with each of the high-value targets, demonstrating that there was no need to fly them to foreign countries to be tortured. [1 word redacted] waited in the office for instructions on how to proceed, with little doubt in [1 word redacted] mind [1 word redacted]’d be given access to the two of them again shortly.
About an hour after he spoke to headquarters, the CIA deputy chief of station stormed into our office. “Who the hell told the FBI HQ that these guys are cooperating?” he yelled at [1 word redacted].
“We did,” [1 word redacted] told him, “or, rather, we reported the facts of what happened in the interrogations. And there is clear, actionable intelligence. They cooperated, there’s plenty of evidence of that.”
“Don’t you understand that nobody can stop these guys from being sent to ———?” He mentioned the names of the still-classified countries.
“That doesn’t make sense. We got clear, actionable intelligence. There is no need to send them elsewhere. You’re making a big mistake by doing that.”
“This is bigger than you,” he yelled. “This is an order coming from the White House. There is nothing you or the FBI can do. You can’t stop this rendition.” He almost spat out those words, acting as if he viewed [1 word redacted] with complete disgust, and stormed back out.
[1 word redacted] reported the conversation to FBI headquarters, including the “this is bigger than you” line, which indicated that decisions had been made at the very top of the U.S. government.
First [1 word redacted] were told to stay put, as senior FBI officials tried to negotiate with the CIA and the White House to see if they’d at least agree to delay the rendition so [1 word redacted] could talk to both detainees a bit longer. [1 word redacted] were told about ongoing plots—ticking time bombs—and they were prepared to tell [1 word redacted] more. Information from them could lead [1 word redacted]