Enhanced Interrogation: Inside the Minds and Motives of the Islamic Terrorists Trying To Destroy America

I purchased this book because I had seen the writer interviewed, and I wanted to know more about "enhanced interrogation"---particularly "waterboarding"--- as well as the other means by which Islamic terrorists were coerced to reveal actionable information to their American and native interrogators. I also wanted to understand the minds of the jihadists he and his team interrogated. This book more than met my expectations. The author, James Mitchell, is a former military clinical psychologist and government contractor who developed and trained U.S. Special Forces members to withstand interrogation if captured by an enemy. He himself went through the program he devised. He was in private practice when, after 9/11, he was asked by the CIA to lead the interrogation of high-value Islamic terrorists, members of Al Qa'ida involved in those and other acts of terror. Among them were Abu Zubaydah (contact for the shoe bomber), Kalid Sheik Mohammed (mastermind of the 9/11 attacks), Ramzi bin al-Shibh, and Ali Abdul ,,,bin al-shibh (the financier for 9/11) and others whose information eventually led U.S. intelligence to bin Laden.The techniques used to elicit information from hardened Islamic jihadists were built on decades of experience in clinical psychology and practice in this particular job. Sleep deprivation, music, serving the same meal everyday and similar techniques were mixed with a lot of benign interviews which sometimes produced information, often because the jihadist denied something that others had confirmed. But the practice that produced the information that saved the U.S. from a second round of attacks like 9/11 and led to bin Laden was waterboarding, which was nothing like I had imagined, and was carried out sometimes for seconds only and with a medical team and outside psychologist present in addition to members of FBI and CIA. The results were not immediate in any case. Rather it was the fear of follow-up sessions that led these men who gloried in the deaths of women and children on 9/11 to give up critical information. When waterboarding was forbidden, interrogation became almost pointless, for no significant information resulted.Anyone who labors under the belief that the U.S. can avoid war with Islamic terrorists will be disabused by the conversations Mitchell reports with these men and their explications of Islam. Most explicit was KSM, who had a degree in mechanical engineering from a university in North Carolina, had worked as an engineer in a water-treatment plant in Qutar, and revealed a method for poisoning water supplies that did not involve dumping poison in reservoirs. His nephew was Ramsi Yousef, responsible for the first Word Trade Center bombing. KSM said no one in Al-Qa'ida expected the buildings to collapse. When the buildings fell, KSM thought of the thousands of infidels he was sacrificing for Allah and rejoiced, praising Allah and dancing with others in the street. The mujahideen, the women, and the children---all rejoiced and celebrated with meals of mutton and treats. Allah, he said, had knocked down those buildings to show how powerful he was and to call all Muslims to jihad and make the infidels cower. He already had a second wave of attacks in the early stages of preparation. Moreover, he had people on the ground throughout the U.S. with follow-up attacks to harass and distract law enforcement until the larger attack could be launched.One thing stopped that second attack: President George Bush. KSM and Al-Qu'ida assumed the U.S. would treat the 9/11 attacks the way they had treated earlier embassy attacks and the "Cole" bombing---as a law enforcement matter. The FBI would investigate by focusing on past crimes. Then the government woud ask the Taliban government in Afghanistan to extradite al-Qu'ida members. The Taliban would refuse, and al Qu'ida would have time to launch the scheduled next wave of attacks on the U.S. homeland. "How was I supposed to know that cowboy George Bush would announce he wanted us 'DEAD or ALIVE' and then invade Afghanistan to hunt us down?" he demanded of Mitchell. The ferocity and swiftness of George Bush's response alone prevented the next wave, which among other things included poisoning or contaminating water supplies serving heavily populated areas.KSM also told interrogators that while major acts of terror were good, the "practical" way to defeat America was through immigration and by outbreeding non-Muslims. He said jihadi-minded brothers would immigrate into the U.S., taking advantage of the welfare system to support themselves while they spread their message. "They will wrap themselves in America's rights and laws for protection, ratchet up acceptance of Sharia law, and when they were strong enough, rise up and violently impose Sharia from within."KSM also told Mitchell that the press and weak-minded citizens would turn against the interrogation team and thus make getting information in the future impossible. He was right about the first part, anyway.I knew, in theory, the implacable nature of Islam, but Mitchell's clear explication of it and his use of the words of its warriors made it clearer to me. Truce is not an option for the Islamist. The Islamist is a missionary warrior: he cannot rest until all infidels are killed or subdued. Peace occurs when the world is Islamic. And all Muslims can be jihadis (Mitchell explains the 4 kinds of jihad, one of them being immigration).I came away from this book much better informed, with a more concrete understanding of the religion that drives Islamists. I also found the explanation of the interrogation process enlightening and interesting. The book is highly readable and I recommend it highly.

This book is a fascinating and very much needed book explaining the basics of what was done to the terrorists captured post 9-11 in order to get vital information from them from the perspective of the person who did many of the interviews on the most dangerous high-value targets captured over the last 15 years.I thought the book was thought provoking, intelligent and very well written. It explained quite a few things about the process of enhanced interrogations and what a suspect could expect to endure. Interestingly enough there was little information about the specifics of each suspects interrogation beyond what worked and the results. Clearly the CIA’s publishing clearing house vetted the book and made sure just enough information was given.I have a background in law enforcement investigations and interrogations and was impressed by the mix of skills, training and knowledge used by the author to gain information. Most of the information was gathered by what was considered more traditional means rather than “enhanced” methods.Clearly the author is not a man to play cards with. He reads people like a book.One of the more interesting aspects of the book concerned a lawyer who wanted to be water boarded. She had the procedure done so she would understand the process. Her exact words were, “That sucked.” I had a good laugh over this. No one doubts it does. It’s clearly designed to “suck.”I also enjoyed a specific passage where a terrorist quickly identified the interrogator and after one slap to the face quickly capitulated. To some extent I wonder how much of that was brought on by his own conditioning prior to interrogation and the fact a female observer had a poor reaction to witnessing the event.Over all I enjoyed the book very much. I learned a few things. I am deeply proud that while these methods were used to gather information they were done in the most careful of manners. This is ugly stuff. But at the same time what came from it is a safer United States and inevitably some of this will end up with our “war fighters.”

Firs class, interesting and informative

Es insultante y doloros ver como los autores justifican la tortura que perpetraron sobre personas incocentes en Guantanamo. Hay que poder leer a verdugos y perpetradores para entenderlos, pero el cinismo del autor del libro demuestra el tipo de persona que es. Muchos incocentes en cárceles y este señor caminando por la calle.

This was an excellent very well written book that explained a lot of things that I had read about in the news but didn't fully understand or believe. Dr. Mitchell presents a fair and objective assessment of his role as a contractor for the CIA after the 9/11 attacks and why he did what he was asked to do and how he did it.

Storia dettagliata dell'uso di tecniche avanzate di interrogatorio. Un esempio di quali risultati La professionalità e la devozione di personale preparato può conseguire.

Excellent, informantive