War by other means: an insider's account of the war on terror

Author:John Yoo
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: War and emergency legislation, 21st century, Political Science, Terrorism, Government policy, Political Freedom & Security, Government, 2001-2009, Current Events, International Relations, History & Theory - General, War and emergency powers, International Security, Military, History, United States, War on Terrorism, National, History & Theory, General, 2001, Politics, Political Freedom & Security - General
ISBN: 9780871139450
Publisher: Grove Press
Published: 2006-09-15T07:00:00+00:00

INTERROGATION

On March 28, 2002, it has been reported, American and Pakistan intelligence agents assaulted a two-story apartment building in Faisalabad, an industrial city in northeastern Pakistan. American agents threw stun grenades and swarmed an apartment where a dozen suspected al Qaeda operatives were sleeping. Four tried to escape by jumping to the roof of another building, and in the scuffle their leader was shot in the groin and thigh.1

Almost completely unfurnished, according to press reports, the apartment in the Shahbaz Cottage building held a trove of computer equipment, storage drives, and CDs. Occupants had told neighbors they were Arab traders selling T-shirts and sheets, but the apartment in reality had become a "provisional headquarters" for the al Qaeda terrorist network.2 Soon American intelligence agents realized that their biggest catch wasn't computers, but al Qaeda's number three leader, Abu Zubaydah. With the death of Mohammed Atef in the American invasion of Afghanistan in November 2001, Zubaydah had assumed the role of chief military planner for al Qaeda, ranking in importance only behind Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri.

It is difficult to understate the importance of the capture. Zubaydah had long been an integral part of al Qaeda plans to attack the West. One of the planners of the failed 2000 millennium attacks, he ran a foiled plot to bomb American and Israeli tourists in Jordan in 1999 and had directed frustrated attacks on the American embassies in France and the former Yugoslavia. Before 9/11, he had spent several years screening al Qaeda recruits. He chose several of the 9/11 hijackers, briefed shoe bomber Richard Reid, and met with Jose Padilla and approved his plans to explode a dirty bomb in the United States.

With his new promotion, Zubaydah headed the organization and planning of al Qaeda's operations. With al Qaeda reeling from American success in Afghanistan, and bin Laden and Zawahiri in hiding, Zubaydah took on the role of building and managing al Qaeda's network of covert cells throughout the world. More than anyone else, he knew the identities of hundreds of terrorists and their plans. In confirming the capture a few days later, Rumsfeld said, "We are asking for a good deal of information and intend to keep doing it."3 If anyone had "actionable intelligence" that could be put to use straightaway to kill or capture al Qaeda operatives and frustrate their plans of attack, it was Zubaydah. It was as if a foreign enemy had captured Rumsfeld or Tenet.

Zubaydah was of a different generation than men like bin Laden and Zawahiri. According to press reports, he was young, comfortable with the communications tools of the twenty-first century, and skilled at the craft of intelligence operations. Responsible for training recruits, Zubaydah was an expert at resisting regular interrogation methods. He was said to be in charge of training materials for al Qaeda cells.4 It was safe to assume that simple questioning and standard mind games (good cop-bad cop) wouldn't work on him. These would be ineffective with those who are willing to die for their cause and who have undergone extensive training to resist questioning.

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