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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 speechwriter,
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 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 raid s 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 terrorist's'
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 object ed. George
Tenet called to urge against the memo's' 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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