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 water-boarding.
He begins telling his
CIA debriefers 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, over ruling 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.
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