November 8, 2024
Hello from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, day 2 of the final three-week session of OMC (Office of Military Commissions) hearings on the 9/11 case..
Today’s session began at 9:00 AM. Present in the courtroom were a reduced number of members from each of the defense and prosecution council teams. The expert forensic witness for the prosecution, Dr. Michael Welner, was present in the remote hearing room (RHR) in Washington, D.C.. Also present were Khalid Shaikh Mohammad (KSM). Ali Abdul Aziz Ali (aka Ammar al Baluchi) observed from the holding cell adjacent to the courtroom.
Housekeeping addressed the judge’s announcement that PTA ‘s (Pre-trial agreements) between the government and KSM would occur among some members of the council teams through the day, while they also worked on similar orders for the other two accused, with the hope to get those out by day’s end in preparation to move forward with guilty pleas. The remaining members of the council were to continue with Michael Welner’s testimony in the court room.
Who is Ali Abdul Aziz Ali (aka Ammar al-Baluchi)? He is a Pakistani national who was captured and detained by Pakistani authorities April 29, 2003. He was quickly transferred to U.S. custody and detained at a CIA black site in Afghanistan. He was transferred to Guantanamo Bay Naval Station Detention Camp September, 2006.
The witness provided testimony based on Judicially-approved CIA summaries of interrogation activities and assessments made by psychiatrists and medical staff at CIA black sites 2 and 5, of Ali’s competency as an informant. Ali’s mental and physical fitness was monitored on a daily basis, tapering to several times weekly over the period of 2003-2005. These “medical” summaries were supported by the presentation of fifteen documents highlighting regular and periodic psychological assessments, interviews and debriefings with Ali. The summaries covered his psychological, medical, and interactive history prior to and during the period of captivity at CIA black sites. Dr. Welner testified that psychiatrists were monitoring if symptoms of PTSD and psychosis had arisen and interfered with Ali’s interrogation performance and participation in EITs.
Judicially-approved CIA summaries of interrogation activities state that Ali appeared alert, well-adjusted and cooperative…
Dr. Welner stated that in the first weeks of interrogations, the EIT’s consisted of sleep deprivation, standing, facial slaps, belly slaps, water dousing, and hydration-only intake. Ali’s resistance waned within the first 36-hours, and he began to give information about the “communication lane” to Osama bin Laden and A-Qaeda operatives. Sleep deprivation EIT was ceased after approximately 85 hours. Upon interview, he provided detailed and appropriate responses and began to cooperate remarkably. The daily medical evaluations found him to be “lucid, oriented to place and time, and truthful. Throughout the interrogation process, Ali was rewarded with privileges including solid food, sleep, a mat, a larger cell, and a chair to sit in during interviews. The intensity of the EIT experience was lessened based on Ali’s continued cooperation. Some summaries found that examinations indicated he was malingering (fabricating) psychological and physical symptoms in order to receive increased social engagement, which he craved intensely. Reportedly, no cognitive, physical, or medical effects were indicated from the EITs. In subsequent interrogations, Ali “willingly” answered questions about Walid bin Attash, who was captured with Ali, on April 29, 2003 in Pakistan, and Khalid Shaikh Mohammad (KSM), captured March 2003 in Pakistan. Both captives who are accused in the planning of the September 11th attacks and detained in Guantanamo Bay.
Through the implementation of EITs (Enhanced Interrogation Techniques) in the CIA’s RDI (Rendition, Detention, Interrogation) program, Ali was being asked about prospective attacks that were imminent in the U.S. and abroad. This was a matter of national and international security.
Reports state that initially, Ali was uncooperative and expected to be caught and tortured. In spite of his expectations, he maintained a resistant posture consistent with “The Manchester Manual,” the expected ethos of al-Qaeda members when in captivity. The Manchester Manual is a set of how-to instructions for resisting interrogation. It was created from resistance-to-interrogation course materials stolen from U.S. Army Special Forces at Fort Bragg, NC, by Ali Mohammed, former Egyptian military officer who had immigrated to the US and enlisted in the US Army Special Forces. He became a valuable al-Qaeda asset, widely circulating the stolen information in multiple languages among Islamic jihadists (Enhanced Interrogation, (Enhanced Interrogation; Inside the Minds and Motives of the Islamic Terrorists Trying to Destroy America” by James E, Mitchell, PhD, 2016 – P. 11). https://irp.fas.org/world/para/manualpart1.html
On June 30, 2003, the interviews with Ali and investigators shifted from interrogation to debriefing sessions. The goals of the RDI program: To access information that could be utilized to identify al-Qaeda members, lanes, and plans related to the September 11th attacks and future-planned activities. The program was designed to cultivate information through ongoing discourse and relationship-building with interviewers. The goal was a transactional one where the debriefers got compliance and Ali got the engagement he craved in a materially comfortable environment. The primary goal being to maintain a bond with him to mitigate anxiety by extinguishing fear, so he’s making choices to voluntarily communicate with debriefers. To extract information in a toxic environment ends a relationship.
Reportedly, no cognitive, physical, or medical effects were indicated from the EITs. In subsequent interrogations, Ali “willingly” answered questions.
Dr. Welner repeatedly elucidated, that Ali was being monitored for depression, anxiety, and psychosis throughout the RDI program. Judicially-approved CIA summaries of interrogation activities state that Ali appeared “alert, well-adjusted and cooperative, especially when discussing his relationship to his Jihadist activity and his religious edicts. His world view reflected his confidence to convert his captors/interviewers to convert to Islam.”
Court recessed at 2:15 to accommodate the lead defense prosecutor for Ali, James Connell, who had to prepare to depart the island tomorrow morning.
To learn more about the implementation and rationale of the CIA’s RDI and EIT operation with captive Al Qaeda operatives in regards to the September 11th attacks and other acts of international terrorism, the following readings are recommended. This is not a complete list of publications of this genre. I have no personal interest or gain from the mention of these texts:
“Enhanced Interrogation; Inside the Minds and Motives of the Islamic Terrorists Trying to Destroy America” by James E, Mitchell, PhD, 2016 / “The Black Banners (Declassified); the Inside Story of 9/11 and the War Against al-Qaeda” by Ali H. Soufan, 2020 / “Doctor, Teacher, Terrorist; The Life and Legacy of Al-Qaeda Leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri” by Sajjan M. Gohel, 2023.
© Deborah Garcia 2024,