The article, reproduced below, was written by Matthew Alexander (as published in the Huffington Post), who led the interrogations that found Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, the former leader of Al Qaida in Iraq. He is a credible, first hand source, who directly contradicts the statements of the former Vice President. In fact, he concludes that the use of torture resulted directly in the death of Americans. The following is the word-for-word post by Matthew Alexander:
"As a senior interrogator in Iraq (and a former criminal investigator), there was a lesson I learned that served me well: there's more to be learned from what someone doesn't say than from what they do say. Let me dissect former Vice President Dick Cheney's speech on National Security using this model and my interrogation skills.
First, VP Cheney said, "This recruitment-tool theory has become something of a mantra lately... it excuses the violent and blames America for the evil that others do." He further stated, "It is much closer to the truth that terrorists hate this country precisely because of the values we profess and seek to live by, not by some alleged failure to do so." That is simply untrue. Anyone who served in Iraq, and veterans on both sides of the aisle have made this argument, knows that the foreign fighters did not come to Iraq en masse until after the revelations of torture and abuse at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. I heard this from captured foreign fighters day in and day out when I was supervising interrogations in Iraq. What the former vice president didn't say is the fact that the dislike of our policies in the Middle East were not enough to make thousands of Muslim men pick up arms against us before these revelations. Torture and abuse became Al Qaida's number one recruiting tool and cost us American lives.
Secondly, the former vice president, in saying that waterboarding is not torture, never mentions the fact that it was the United States and its Allies, during the Tokyo Trials, that helped convict a Japanese soldier for war crimes for waterboarding one of Jimmie Doolittle's Raiders. Have our morals and values changed in fifty years? He also did not mention that George Washington and Abraham Lincoln both prohibited their troops from torturing prisoners of war. Washington specifically used the term "injure" -- no mention of severe mental or physical pain.
Thirdly, the former vice president never mentioned the Senate testimony of Ali Soufan, the FBI interrogator who successfully interrogated Abu Zubaydah and learned the identity of Jose Padilla, the dirty bomber, and the fact that Khalid Sheikh Mohammad (KSM) was the mastermind behind 9/11. We'll never know what more we could have discovered from Abu Zubaydah had not CIA contractors taken over the interrogations and used waterboarding and other harsh techniques. Also, glaringly absent from the former vice president's speech was any mention of the fact that the former administration never brought Osama bin Laden to justice and that our best chance to locate him would have been through KSM or Abu Zubaydah had they not been waterboarded.
In addition, in his continued defense of harsh interrogation techniques (aka torture and abuse), VP Cheney forgets that harsh techniques have ensured that future detainees will be less likely to cooperate because they see us as hypocrites. They are less willing to trust us when we fail to live up to our principles. I experienced this firsthand in Iraq when interrogating high-ranking members of Al Qaida, some of whom decided to cooperate simply because I treated them with respect and civility.
The former vice president is confusing harshness with effectiveness. An effective interrogation is one that yields useful, accurate intelligence, not one that is harsh. It speaks to a fundamental misunderstanding of interrogations, the goal of which is not to coerce information from a prisoner, but to convince a prisoner to cooperate.
Finally, the point that is most absent is that our greatest success in this conflict was achieved without torture or abuse. My interrogation team found Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, the former leader of Al Qaida in Iraq and murderer of tens of thousands. We did this using relationship-building approaches and non-coercive law enforcement techniques. These worked to great effect on the most hardened members of Al Qaida -- spiritual leaders who had been behind the waves of suicide bombers and, hence, the sectarian violence that swept across Iraq. We convinced them to cooperate by applying our intellect. In essence, we worked smarter, not harsher."
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I can't fully understand why Cheney would expressly admit, in any forum, let alone a public forum, to committing War Crimes.
ReplyDeleteI think Cheney's purpose in criticizing President Obama is to avoid being subjected to the charge of War Crimes by trying to convince the public that the Bush Administration's methods of enhanced interrogation (torture) were necessary because of the nature of the times and that these methods worked, despite evidence to the contrary. Even though Cheney has no credibility, I think this is not smart of him to critize Obama, as Obama has indicated he'd rather look forward than look backwards on the issue of holding the Bush Administration accountable....and even though Obama feels this way it seems that a majority of the public seems to feel that accountability is necessary if we live in a nation of laws and not men.
It appears from some reports that the Bush Administration, with Cheney's "suggestion', was using enhanced interrogation (torture) to coerce evidence that Iraq had some tie to 9/11; something that Cheney said in numerous appearances; which it seems to have been shown to be false.
By continuing to talk, Cheney is attempting to defend the indefensible. He is basically confessing while getting his explanation into the public arena. It will be interesting to see how Cheney's strategy will impact his future in light of the reports that Spain and who knows what other countries are considering trying members of the Bush Administration, including him, for War Crimes.
Cheney is trying to take the focus off of him by critizing Obama. He'll throw his grandmother under the bus to save himself.
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