[This was sent to me from a friend that works for the USAF.]
US Security & INTELLIGENCE . . .The
single most prominent characteristic of contemporary America is that
common sense has been abandoned to political correctness and "feelings".
As
President George W. Bush's top speech writer, Marc Thiessen was provided unique access to the CIA program used in
interrogating top Al Qaeda terrorists, including the mastermind of the
9/11 attack, Khalid Sheikh Mohammad (KSM).
Now,
his riveting new book, "Courting Disaster", How the CIA Kept America
Safe (Regnery), has been published. Here is an excerpt from "Courting
Disaster":
"Just
before dawn on March 1, 2003, two dozen heavily armed Pakistani
tactical assault forces move in and surround a safe house in Rawalpindi
. A few hours earlier they had received a text message from an
informant inside the house. It read: "I am with KSM."
Bursting
in, they find the disheveled mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, Khalid
Sheikh Mohammed, in his bedroom. He is taken into custody. In the safe
house, they find a treasure trove of computers, documents, cell phones
and other valuable "pocket litter."
Once
in custody, KSM is defiant. He refuses to answer questions,informing
his captors that he will tell them everything when he gets to America
and sees his lawyer. But KSM is not taken to America to see a lawyer
Instead he is taken to a secret CIA "black site" in an undisclosed
location.
Upon
arrival, KSM finds himself in the complete control of Americans. He
does not know where he is, how long he will be there, or what his fate
will be.
Despite his circumstances, KSM still refuses to talk. He
spews contempt at his interrogators, telling them Americans are weak,
lack resilience, and are unable to do what is necessary to prevent the
terrorists from succeeding in their goals. He has trained to resist
interrogation. When he is asked for information about future attacks,
he tells his questioners scornfully: "Soon, you will know."
It
becomes clear he will not reveal the information using traditional
interrogation techniques. So he undergoes a series of "enhanced
interrogation techniques" approved for use only on the most high-value
detainees. The techniques include waterboarding. He begins telling his
CIA de-briefers about active al Qaeda plots to launch attacks against
the United States and other Western targets. He holds classes for CIA
officials, using a chalkboard to draw a picture of al Qaeda's operating
structure, financing, communications, and logistics. He identifies al
Qaeda travel routes and safe havens, and helps intelligence officers
make sense of documents and computer records seized in terrorist raids.
He identifies voices in intercepted telephone calls, and helps
officials understand the meaning of coded terrorist communications. He
provides information that helps our intelligence community capture other
high-ranking terrorists .
KSM's
questioning, and that of other captured terrorists, produces more than
6,000 intelligence reports, which are shared across the intelligence
community, as well as with our allies across the world. In one of these
reports, KSM describes in detail the revisions he made to his failed
1994-1995 plan known as the "Bojinka plot" to blow up a dozen airplanes
carrying some 4,000 passengers over the Pacific Ocean . Years later, an
observant CIA officer notices the activities of a cell being followed
by British authorities appear to match KSM's description of his plans
for a Bojinka-style attack. In an operation that involves unprecedented
intelligence cooperation between our countries, British officials
proceed to unravel the plot.
On
the night of Aug. 9, 2006 they launch a series of raids in a northeast
London suburb that lead to the arrest of two dozen al Qaeda terrorist
suspects. They find a USB thumb-drive in the pocket of one of the men
with security details for Heathrow airport, and information on seven
Trans-Atlantic flights that were scheduled to take off within hours of
each other:
* United Airlines Flight 931 to San Francisco departing at 2:15 PM
* Air Canada Flight 849 to Toronto departing at 3:00 PM
* Air Canada Flight 865 to Montreal departing at 3:15 PM
* United Airlines Flight 959 to Chicago departing at 3:40 PM
* United Airlines Flight 925 to Washington departing at 4:20 PM
* American Airlines Flight 131 to New York departing at 4:35 PM
* American Airlines Flight 91 to Chicago departing at 4:50 PM
They
seize bomb-making equipment and hydrogen peroxide to make liquid
explosives. And they find the chilling martyrdom videos the suicide
bombers had prepared.
Today,
if you asked an average person on the street what they know about the
2006 airlines plot, most would not be able to tell you much. Few
Americans are aware of the fact al Qaeda had planned to mark the fifth
anniversary of 9/11 with an attack of similar scope and magnitude.
And still fewer realize the terrorists' true intentions in this plot
were uncovered thanks to critical information obtained through the
interrogation of the man who conceived it: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
This
is only one of the many attacks stopped with the help of the CIA
interrogation program established by the Bush Administration in the wake
of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
In
addition to helping break up these specific terrorist cells and plots,
CIA questioning provided our intelligence community with an
unparalleled body of information about al Qaeda.
Until
the program was temporarily suspended in 2006, intelligence officials
say, well over half of the information our government had about al
Qaeda-how it operates, how it moves money, how it communicates, how it
recruits operatives, how it picks targets, how it plans and carries out
attacks-came from the interrogation of terrorists in CIA custody.
Former
CIA Director George Tenet has declared: "I know this program has
saved lives. I know we've disrupted plots. I know this program alone is
worth more than what the FBI, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the
National Security Agency put together have been able to tell us."
Former
CIA Director Mike Hayden has said: "The facts of the case are that the
use of these techniques against these terrorists made us safer. It
really did work." Even Barack Obama's Director of National Intelligence,
Dennis Blair, has acknowledged: "High-value information came from
interrogations in which those methods were used and provided a deeper
understanding of the al Qaeda organization that was attacking this
country." Leon Panetta, Obama's CIA Director, has said: "Important
information was gathered from these detainees. It provided information
that was acted upon.
John
Brennan, Obama's Homeland Security Advisor, when asked in an interview
if enhanced-interrogation techniques were necessary to keep America
safe, replied : "Would the U. S. be handicapped if the CIA was not, in
fact, able to carry out these types of detention and debriefing
activities, I would say yes."
On
Jan. 22, 2009, President Obama issued Executive Order 13491, closing
the CIA program and directing that, henceforth, all interrogations by U.
S. personnel must follow the techniques contained in the Army Field
Manual.
The
morning of the announcement, Mike Hayden was still in his post as CIA
Director, He called White House Counsel Greg Craig and told him bluntly:
"You didn't ask, but this is the CIA officially non-concurring". The
president went ahead anyway, overruling the objections of the agency.
A
few months later, on April 16, 2009, President Obama ordered the
release of four Justice Department memos that described in detail the
techniques used to interrogate KSM and other high-value terrorists. This
time, not just Hayden (who was now retired) but five CIA directors
-including Obama's own director, Leon Panetta objected. George Tenet
called to urge against the memos' release.
So did Porter Goss. So did
John Deutch. Hayden says: "You had CIA directors in a continuous
unbroken stream to 1995 calling saying, 'Don't do this.'" In addition
to objections from the men who led the agency for a collective 14 years,
the President also heard objections from the agency's covert field
operatives. A few weeks earlier, Panetta had arranged for the eight top
officials of the Clandestine Service to meet with the President. It
was highly unusual for these clandestine officers to visit the Oval
Office, and they used the opportunity to warn the President that
releasing the memos would put agency operatives at risk. The President
reportedly listened respectfully, and then ignored their advice.
With
these actions, Barack Obama arguably did more damage to America 's
national security in his first 100 days of office than any President in
American history.
But how many people know this?.... only the few that read this from beginning to end.
6 comments:
I do agree with the need for enhanced techniques in extreme cases. However, in many longer-term situations, a softer approach will work better.
Select the weapon that's appropriate to the situation.
(sigh)
I'm going on record as opposing torture (a mere euphemism for enhanced interrogation) in all circumstances. While an enterprising individual can comb through the records and find an instance such as this one where torture yielded good information, it's a slippery slope that allows for future torture as a means to short cut traditional investigation techniques or to get an answer from someone who is innocent but investigators need an admitted criminal to solve a case they had no viable suspects for. I've always maintained that any government that would torture any suspect would torture you and yours if it suited their purpose.
My own position is somewhat less than nuanced. It was first expressed by the great Don Cherry, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation commentator and retired head coach of the Boston Bruins:
"If hooking up one rag-head terrorist prisoner's testicles to a car battery to get the truth out of the lying little camel shagger will save just one Canadian life, then I have only three things to say: Red is positive, black is negative, and make sure his nuts are wet.”
The "detainees" of which we speak are:
-- non-uniformed, armed combatants;
-- captured in the act of trying to kill Americans;
-- whose allegiance is to a terrorist entity -- an "enemy of all Mankind."
They have no rights whatsoever. The reason is simple: They acknowledge no rights in us. You cannot claim rights unless you are willing to grant them symmetrically to others.
Ayn Rand put it more succinctly: "Savages have no rights." Indeed, one who refuses to acknowledge the rights of others is the best working definition of a savage -- a sociopathic savage.
All I would advocate is cautious confirmation of whatever such a subhuman creature might tell us under torture. The rest is pure expediency...and be sure to soak his remains in pig' urine and bury them in an unmarked grave.
I agree 100% with Fran on this one. I'd advise using the spark coil as well as the battery, high voltage works even better!
May God bless Don Cherry.
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