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How the CIA Broke the 9/11 Attacks Mastermind
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ShareSeptember 13, 2007 4:09 PM
When Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was strapped down to the water-board, he felt humiliated -- not by the treatment but by the fact that a woman, a red-headed CIA supervisor, was allowed to witness the spectacle, a former intelligence officer told ABC News.
This story has been updated (see endnote).
The al Qaeda mastermind, known as KSM, stubbornly held out for about two minutes -- far longer than any of the other "high-value" terror targets who were subjected to the technique, the harshest from a list of six techniques approved for use by the CIA and Bush administration lawyers, sources said.
Then KSM started talking, in idiomatic English he learned as a high school foreign exchange student and polished at a North Carolina college in the 1980s, sources said.
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"It was an extraordinary amount of time for him to hold out," one former CIA officer told ABCNews.com. "A red-headed female supervisor was in the room when he was being water-boarded. It was humiliating to him. So he held out."
"Then he started talking, and he never stopped," this former officer said. KSM was never water-boarded again, and in hours and hours of conversation with his interrogators, often over a cup of tea, he poured out his soul and the murderous deeds he committed.
"He was sitting across the table from his interrogator, and he just blurted out, 'I killed Daniel Pearl. I killed him Hahal (slit his throat in a ritual fashion).' There was no water-boarding, no belly slapping; just two guys sitting across the table having a cup of tea."
Water-boarding consists of strapping an individual to an inclined board with the person's head slightly lower than the feet and pouring water over the face to simulate drowning. It triggers a gag reflex and can make a person believe death is near. Water-boarding has been denounced as "torture" by human rights groups and many U.S. officials, including Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who likened it to a mock execution.
A current CIA official says that KSM actually told interrogators the only reason he confessed was because of the water-boarding.
But what if that one episode of water-boarding KSM had not occurred? It is a question at the center of the debate over the harshest technique in the CIA's repertoire that has raged for three years now, a time frame, intelligence officials note, in which the technique has not been used.
Would the agency have eventually worn KSM down? Would the confessions have poured forth about Daniel Pearl's beheading, about his role in the 1995 plot by his nephew, master bomber Ramzi Yousef, to assassinate Pope John Paul II during a visit to Manila, and detailed information about his role as mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks?
In the case of 9/11, U.S. intelligence officials were in the dark as to how exactly it was plotted because at the time KSM brought the idea to Osama bin Laden, the al Qaeda terrorist leader had just stopped using mobile telephones after media reports raised suspicions they were monitored by U.S. intelligence.
"If one water-board session got him to talk, you could have gotten him to talk (without it), given time and patience," said Brad Garrett, an ABC News consultant and former FBI agent. Garrett has 30 years of experience interrogating terrorists such as Yousef, the Pakistani man who killed two CIA employees at the gates to the agency's Langley, Va. headquarters in 1994 and hundreds of violent criminals.
"If in fact it's true that they water-boarded him once and then he started talking and provided reliable information, then he falls under the category of the small minority of people on whom it works. But torture seldom works. Most people start talking...to get the pain to stop," Garrett said.
But in many cases, the harsh intelligence techniques led to questionable confessions and downright lies, say officers with firsthand knowledge of the program. That included statements that al Qaeda was building dirty bombs.
"It is true that the person who was saying the nuke stuff said it under pressure. The analysts believed it was not true; it did not conform to other information," one former intelligence officer told ABC News.
As these targets were subjected to the increasingly harsh interrogation methods -- in some cases including water-boarding -- KSM sat in his cell in Poland, writing poetry in English, writing letters to the president and to the head of the CIA, and debating the merits of Christianity and Islam with his captor.
"Using torture says that we aren't any better than countries that historically tortured people. What are we telling the world about the United States?" Garrett, who has lectured on the subject of interrogation and torture and the perception of a nation, asked.
And just yesterday, an intelligence source told ABC News that the dapper man behind the most successful terror plot against America was not rumpled and disheveled when he was apprehended. He was as well-kept as ever.
But the CIA, conscious of the propaganda value of appearance, messed his hair and pulled his shirt from his pants, leaving us with the image of KSM we have today, and according to days of NSA intercepts, leaving his fellow al Qaeda terrorists chagrined over the changes to their esteemed colleague.
UPDATE: U.S. Government documents released in April 2009 indicate the statement that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was never waterboarded again was incorrect. In fact, according to a footnote in newly released, previously classified "Top Secret" memos, the CIA used the waterboard "183 times during March 2003 in the interrogation of KSM."
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September 13, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (234)
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So what it is torture, yes, but these people are very bad to abegin with. think of the harm they have done and torture they commited agains other individuals. It is not like CIA is torturing them to confess to a marijuna consporacy.
Posted by: Guy Famiano | Sep 13, 2007 5:28:56 PM
If one terrorist has to suffer in order to save hundreds of innocent people from dying, I am all for it. Why does a person that has vowed to give his life to killing innocent people deserve any rights?? Would they be so kind to show any of us the same compassion? Ask Mr Pearl.
Posted by: Mark | Sep 13, 2007 5:30:12 PM
Ladonna are you feeling sorry for him? What about the torture of almost 3,000 people dying and their families struggles since. What about their human rights? If you think we are wrong for using these tactics to protect our families and way of life, then PROUDLY call me wrong.
Posted by: jk | Sep 13, 2007 5:31:38 PM
I'm proud of America after reading this. I hope they continue to torture him. He should suffer
Posted by: jk | Sep 13, 2007 5:33:22 PM
That was the victory US gave to Laden.
Fear downgraded US to forget values which it says it defends
Posted by: raj | Sep 13, 2007 5:33:30 PM
So!If it hasn't already, when will this waterboarding torture technique enter the jail and prison systems in America? You know, some prison guard or jailer, at some point, will feel just a wee bit too excited and powerful then try this on some American victim. By now, y'all know how Americans can become euphoric over these matters.
Posted by: What Next? | Sep 13, 2007 5:36:16 PM
That was the victory US gave to Laden.
Fear downgraded US to forget values which it says it defends
Posted by: raj | Sep 13, 2007 5:36:17 PM
Why was this story titled "Shame and Propaganda" on the homepage? Whose shame and whose propaganda? That title makes no sense with this story.
Since we'll never know whether KSM would have spilled without waterboarding then we'll just have to err on the side of caution and assume not. Also, I don't find the idea of "waterboarding" particularly torturous. This is why so few respect these so-called human rights groups. They run around calling EVERYTHING "torture" and "human rights violations" so no one even takes them seriously anymore. I totally respect our soldiers and CIA agents doing the dirty work so I can sit on my *%$ and write a post on a blog no one will ever read. This country is full of whiny spoiled brats--that is SHAMEFUL!
Posted by: Christine | Sep 13, 2007 5:36:42 PM
I am sure that he was dressed nicely when he planned the deaths of thousands of americans.
WHO CARES?
If you hate America so much, please leave.
Posted by: jim jones | Sep 13, 2007 5:38:21 PM
Besides the fact that it is morally reprehensible, torture is rarely used because the information gotten is unreliable. A nation that bases it's strategies on information gotten through torture is doomed to failed strategies.
Posted by: cassandragop | Sep 13, 2007 5:41:50 PM
So, what's to happen when the "enemy" begans to torture American soldiers, ignoring the Geneva Convention? After all, all they have to say is, "Well, America started it! So if they don't follow their own rules and laws governing humanity and human rights, why should the rest of the world?"
Posted by: What Next? | Sep 13, 2007 5:42:26 PM
Waterboarding consists of immobilizing an individual and pouring water over his or her face to simulate drowning. Waterboarding has been used to obtain information, coerce confessions, and also to punish, and/or intimidate. However, it is also used in some military training. It elicits the gag reflex, and can make the subject believe his or her death is imminent while not causing permanent physical damage.
Some legal experts, and recently Sen. John McCain, regard waterboarding as a form of torture,[1][2][3] specifically water torture. "The threat of imminent death" is one of the legal definitions of torture under U.S. law.[4] Additionally the United Nations Convention Against Torture prohibits the intentional infliction of severe pain or suffering.[5][6] In November 2005, anonymous sources told ABC News that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency uses waterboarding as an interrogation technique, but does not deem it torture.[7] CIA Inspector General John L. Helgerson said the techniques "appeared to constitute cruel and degrading treatment under the [Geneva] convention."[8]
Posted by: Robert | Sep 13, 2007 5:43:56 PM
Scott- Waterboarding is a technique that forces water into the body of the subject and gives them the feeling that they're drowning. Once their stomachs are stretched with water, the subject is slapped and smacked to give the excruciating sensation of his insides being broken. Imagine if you will, having to pee very badly, yet you have to ride in a horse and buggy all the way to the bathroom. Jostling around, it's very, very uncomfortable and at times painful. Waterboarding is 10 times more painful than that and very frightening. It has been used for centuries, including during the Inquisition. I am so ashamed that our society has progressed so little over the centuries that we still resort to these tactics to get "answers."
Posted by: Nina Nealon | Sep 13, 2007 5:43:57 PM
jrog, are you 100% certain that America doesn't "behead" its enemies? That Americans DON'T kill others for their religious beliefs? You must have missed out on America's History classes.
Posted by: AllICanSayIS | Sep 13, 2007 5:45:14 PM
Um...when KSM was captured the holier-than-thou MEDIA said he was dragged out of bed hence his nightshirt and bedhead. This is the worst journalism. Find some random source to claim anything and you forget your original claims. I haven't forgotten that he was asleep when captured but I'm not a journalist so I should just eat what you're serving.
This Garrett guy is ALWAYS the guy they go to when they want the USA bashed. Over and over again. CHECK YOUR DAMN SOURCES BEFORE TYPING YOUR REPORTS! Ever hear of double sourcing or triple sourcing?? Just b/c it's on the website doesn't mean you should be lazy about it . Lord, if I know your source is wrong, you sure as hell should.
Posted by: Mary | Sep 13, 2007 5:45:48 PM
What about the torture Daniel Pearl endured?? What about the terror/torture those people felt when they looked up from their desks drinking their coffee and getting ready to start their day when the plane was coming right at them?? And we have to feel bad? He is still alive!! Daniel Pearl is not, nor are those people who where on the planes and in the buildings. Give me a break!
Posted by: Sandy | Sep 13, 2007 5:46:01 PM
a) what exactly is "waterboarding"?
b) next time just behead him on video
Posted by: mike | Sep 13, 2007 5:46:34 PM
Ray, Jrog, Sid - You are endangering the lives of soldiers by your mock- right winged bravado. Remember, your words are read on the internet. Bush did the same thing, (bring them on). The big people in the government are the soldiers who do the actual shooting. Torturing a defensless person is not defensible.
Message - don't write checks with your mouth that your body can't cash. You wanna fight, join the Army. Take all the republicans kids in ritzy colleges and let them get a taste of it too.
Posted by: Robert | Sep 13, 2007 5:49:47 PM
These terrorist in the Middle East and else where who are set on there ideals and refuse to have an open mind or follow government or justice, normally are cowards towards the end and talk a lot. It is those who live with hidden societies and master mind this world against government and faith that even the harshest of torture might not work. The harder you work on them the harder they resolve to fight against your torture. But, I am not a torture expert, and do not believe in it. Its data is contaminated and its purpose for revenge is not humanitarian.
Posted by: Williamwfh | Sep 13, 2007 5:49:51 PM
"...me ashamed of America. ...in fact we are terrorists. How sad."
Let me reassure you LaDonna, you're not a terrorist, just a "useful idiot" for the Islamists. How sad.
Posted by: Ralph | Sep 13, 2007 5:50:06 PM
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