Inigo Montoya
The New Dread Pirate Roberts.
US Senate report, declassified cables question results of CIA's interrogation of Hambali
The World Today
By Peter Lloyd
Top secret cables, now declassified, revealed the torture of Hambali began one month after his capture.
The senate report said he was taken to a secret location called COBALT. It is a notorious CIA site in Afghanistan known locally as the Salt Pit.
The report suggested Hambali was stripped naked, shackled and kept in the standing stress position to maximise sleep deprivation.
But did these methods get results? Not according to the majority of findings.
Results of Hambali interrogation questioned
"In late 2003 Hambali recanted most of the significant information he had provided to interrogators during the use of the CIA's enhanced interrogation techniques, recantations CIA officers assessed to be credible," it said.
AUDIO: CIA report reveals torture of Bali bombings mastermind(The World Today)
"He had provided the false information in an attempt to reduce the pressure on himself ... and to give an account that was consistent with what he assessed the questioners wanted to hear."
A cable by a CIA agent made this assessment: "After an Indonesian speaker was deployed to debrief Hambali, the debriefer got the distinct impression Hambali was just responding 'yes' in the typical Indonesian cultural manner when they do not comprehend a question."
That was all by November 2003, yet the CIA continued to claim a direct link between the stories Hambali told under torture and the cases they broke.
Frankly we stumbled onto Hambali. It wasn't police work. It wasn't good targetting. We stumbled over it and it yielded up Hambali.
Unnamed agency spy chief
One involved the break-up of an Al Qaeda cell in the Pakistani port city of Karachi.
Members of the group were mostly Malaysians planning to pilot planes into buildings in Los Angeles, the so-called second wave to follow 9/11.
The senate report said that spin was inaccurate. The source that revealed the Karachi cell was, it said, Hambali's brother, Gun Gun Ruswan Gunawan. He was arrested a month after his brother.
The capture of Hambali was one of the eight most frequently cited examples provided by the CIA as evidence for the effectiveness of its enhanced interrogation techniques.
Interrogation did not lead to breakthrough: report
One of the first men the agency tortured after 9/11 was Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks.
According to the senate report, "in 18 separate documents provided to policymakers between 2003 and 2009, the CIA consistently asserted that 'after applying' the CIA's enhanced interrogation techniques, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed provided 'the crucial first link' that led to the capture of Hambali".
Inside the mind of a torturer
As the full extent of CIA torture is revealed, former US vice president Dick Cheney says he would do it over again. But what exactly is it that he is defending?
Instead, the senate report concluded the breakthrough came as a result of "signals intelligence, a CIA source, and Thai investigative activities in Thailand".
It added a quote from an unnamed agency spy chief that said: "Frankly, we stumbled onto Hambali. It wasn't police work. It wasn't good targetting. We stumbled over it and it yielded up Hambali."
There was a dissenting senate report, adding views of Republicans including intelligence committee vice chairman Saxby Chambliss.
They insisted the torture of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed helped the CIA trace Hambali and foil another wave of 9/11-style attacks using hijacked planes flown into buildings in Los Angeles and across Europe.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was detained in March 2003, five months before Hambali was tracked down.
Under torture he was said to have revealed that he had sent Hambali $50,000 for the terrorist's next big operation.
It was thought to be a payment for the next spectacular suicide hijackings.
According to the dissenting report, Hambali admitted under torture that he sent his brother and a would-be hijacking team to Karachi because of its "proximity to Afghanistan and the availability of military-style training facilities there".
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-...ions-results-of-hambali-interrogation/5957358
The World Today
By Peter Lloyd
Top secret cables, now declassified, revealed the torture of Hambali began one month after his capture.
The senate report said he was taken to a secret location called COBALT. It is a notorious CIA site in Afghanistan known locally as the Salt Pit.
The report suggested Hambali was stripped naked, shackled and kept in the standing stress position to maximise sleep deprivation.
But did these methods get results? Not according to the majority of findings.
Results of Hambali interrogation questioned
"In late 2003 Hambali recanted most of the significant information he had provided to interrogators during the use of the CIA's enhanced interrogation techniques, recantations CIA officers assessed to be credible," it said.
AUDIO: CIA report reveals torture of Bali bombings mastermind(The World Today)
"He had provided the false information in an attempt to reduce the pressure on himself ... and to give an account that was consistent with what he assessed the questioners wanted to hear."
A cable by a CIA agent made this assessment: "After an Indonesian speaker was deployed to debrief Hambali, the debriefer got the distinct impression Hambali was just responding 'yes' in the typical Indonesian cultural manner when they do not comprehend a question."
That was all by November 2003, yet the CIA continued to claim a direct link between the stories Hambali told under torture and the cases they broke.
Frankly we stumbled onto Hambali. It wasn't police work. It wasn't good targetting. We stumbled over it and it yielded up Hambali.
Unnamed agency spy chief
One involved the break-up of an Al Qaeda cell in the Pakistani port city of Karachi.
Members of the group were mostly Malaysians planning to pilot planes into buildings in Los Angeles, the so-called second wave to follow 9/11.
The senate report said that spin was inaccurate. The source that revealed the Karachi cell was, it said, Hambali's brother, Gun Gun Ruswan Gunawan. He was arrested a month after his brother.
The capture of Hambali was one of the eight most frequently cited examples provided by the CIA as evidence for the effectiveness of its enhanced interrogation techniques.
Interrogation did not lead to breakthrough: report
One of the first men the agency tortured after 9/11 was Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks.
According to the senate report, "in 18 separate documents provided to policymakers between 2003 and 2009, the CIA consistently asserted that 'after applying' the CIA's enhanced interrogation techniques, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed provided 'the crucial first link' that led to the capture of Hambali".
Inside the mind of a torturer
As the full extent of CIA torture is revealed, former US vice president Dick Cheney says he would do it over again. But what exactly is it that he is defending?
Instead, the senate report concluded the breakthrough came as a result of "signals intelligence, a CIA source, and Thai investigative activities in Thailand".
It added a quote from an unnamed agency spy chief that said: "Frankly, we stumbled onto Hambali. It wasn't police work. It wasn't good targetting. We stumbled over it and it yielded up Hambali."
There was a dissenting senate report, adding views of Republicans including intelligence committee vice chairman Saxby Chambliss.
They insisted the torture of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed helped the CIA trace Hambali and foil another wave of 9/11-style attacks using hijacked planes flown into buildings in Los Angeles and across Europe.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was detained in March 2003, five months before Hambali was tracked down.
Under torture he was said to have revealed that he had sent Hambali $50,000 for the terrorist's next big operation.
It was thought to be a payment for the next spectacular suicide hijackings.
According to the dissenting report, Hambali admitted under torture that he sent his brother and a would-be hijacking team to Karachi because of its "proximity to Afghanistan and the availability of military-style training facilities there".
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-...ions-results-of-hambali-interrogation/5957358