[Grovenet] More on Guantanamo and humane treatment

[Katie Allnutt]

Interesting read. Be sure to note the guy who was motivated by his  
desire to keep his family safe, a universal trait to be sure.

We are in a crucial battle of ideas. The way to win is to stick to them.

Katie



Obama Says No to Torture; Interrogators Say Yes to Obama

David Danzig – Thu Jan 22, 10:51 pm ET
Huffington Post


Interrogators are lauding President Obama for signing an executive  
order that will shut down secret CIA prisons and place the use of  
coercive interrogation techniques completely off limits.
"[The order] closes an unconscionable period in our history, in which  
those who knew least, professed to know most about interrogations,"  
said Joe Navarro, a former special agent and supervisor with the FBI.
"Some die-hards on the right -- who have never interrogated anyone --  
are already arguing that forcing interrogations to be conducted  
within army field manual guidelines is a step backward and will  
result in 'coddling' dangerous terrorists," retired Colonel Stuart  
Herrington, who served for more than 30 years as a military  
intelligence officer, said soon after the order was signed. "This is  
a common, but uninformed view. Experienced, well-trained,  
professional interrogators know that interrogation is an art. It is a  
battle of wits, not muscle. It is a challenge that can be  
accomplished within the military guidelines without resorting to  
brutality."
The way interrogation works is largely misunderstood by the general  
public and some senior policy makers, according to Navarro,  
Herrington and other intelligence professionals.
"Interrogation is not like a faucet that you can turn on - and the  
harder you turn, the more information will pour out," explains  
Herrington, who conducted a classified review of detention and  
interrogation practices in Iraq for the U.S. Army.
* * * * * *
Getting a suspected terrorist to talk is much more subtle than what  
one typically sees in the movies or on TV. A new book, How to Break A  
Terrorist by Matthew Alexander (a pseudonym), provides an inside look  
at how interrogation can yield more information if it is done humanely.
Alexander developed the intelligence that led U.S. forces to al- 
Zarqawi, the former chief of Al Qaeda in Iraq. While some were using  
abusive techniques to try to crack detainees, Alexander used a  
smarter, more sophisticated approach. He learned what the detainees  
cared about and then used that information to get what he wanted.
For example, his first big break came when he interrogated a cleric  
who was an Al Qaeda operative. The cleric said he would like to  
"slit" Alexander's throat "and watch you die" when the interrogation  
began. Three days later he gave up critical info that led directly to  
Zarqawi.
What changed? Alexander learned, through patient questioning, that  
the detainee had joined Al Qaeda to keep his family safe. The cleric  
identified key Al Qaeda hiding places as soon as Alexander showed  
that he could -- and would -- protect the cleric's family.
Another recently published book, Mission: Black List #1 by Staff  
Sergeant Eric Maddox, shows how the author, an interrogator stationed  
in Tikrit, developed the intelligence that led to the capture of  
Saddam Hussein. Maddox was hunting one of the most wanted men in  
Iraq. Like Alexander he did not try to "break" detainees by beating  
them up; he talked to them.
Maddox was an information junkie who patiently interrogated hundreds  
of detainees and slowly pieced together a picture that led him to  
Saddam. He also intuitively understood that, if possible, you want  
the detainees to not only answer your questions, but also tell you  
which questions to ask. He induced a detainee who was a close friend  
(and former driver) of one of Saddam's closest confidants to join his  
"team." The former driver joined Maddox in interrogations. Detainees  
"broke" the moment that Maddox and the former driver started  
interrogating them.
As Maddox and Alexander have proved, these are the sorts of  
techniques that work in the interrogation booth. Professional  
interrogators believe that the president's action not only returned  
the U.S. to high ground, they refocused U.S. intelligence operations  
on techniques that are effective.
* * * * * *
"The quality and quantity of intelligence we can gather will now  
begin to increase," said Torin Nelson, an intelligence professional  
who served as an interrogator with the U.S. Army and private military  
contractors.
To illustrate how torture can lead to poor intelligence, Nelson cites  
the case of Al-Libi, a detainee who was tortured and, under duress,  
gave misinformation about a connection between Iraq and Al Qaeda.  
(Secretary Colin Powell quoted intelligence gained from Al-Libi as  
justification to go to war with Iraq.)
Nelson, president of the Society for Professional Human Intelligence,  
said that he hoped we could end debate about whether or not torture  
works and instead work on providing interrogators with the training  
and resources they need to do their jobs effectively.
"The challenge we face does not have to do with so-called 'enhanced  
interrogation techniques,' " said Nelson. "We don't want those. What  
we do need is to build a world-class interrogation corps. To do that,  
we need to pay more attention to recruiting, training, and managing  
interrogators. President Obama's executive order is an important  
first step but there is still more to do."