The Black Banners (Declassified): How Torture Derailed the War on Terror after 9/11 (Declassified Edition)

The Black Banners (Declassified): How Torture Derailed the War on Terror after 9/11 (Declassified Edition) PDF

Author: Ali Soufan

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2020-09-08

Total Pages: 640

ISBN-13: 0393540731

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

The definitive account of an FBI special agent’s al-Qaeda story, unredacted for the first time. Widely heralded on publication as a "must-read" (Military Review) and "important window on America’s battle with al-Qaeda" (Washington Post), Ali Soufan’s revelatory account of the war on terror as seen from its front lines changed the way we understand al-Qaeda and how the United States prosecuted the war—and led to hard questions being asked of our leaders. When The Black Banners was published in 2011, significant portions of the text were redacted. After subsequent review by the Central Intelligence Agency, those redactions have been lifted. Their removal corrects the record on how vital intelligence was obtained from al-Qaeda suspects and brings forth important new details on the controversial use of enhanced interrogation techniques (torture) to extract information from terror suspects. For many years, proponents of the use of these techniques have argued that they produced actionable intelligence in the war on terror. This edition of The Black Banners explodes this myth; it shows Soufan at work using guile and intelligent questioning—not force or violence—to extract some of the most important confessions in the war, and it vividly recounts the failures of the government’s torture program. Drawing on Soufan’s experiences as a lead operative for the FBI and declassified government records, The Black Banners (Declassified) documents the intelligence failures that lead to the tragic attacks on New York and Washington, DC, and subsequently how torture derailed the fight against al-Qaeda. With this edition, eighteen years on from the first sanctioned enhanced interrogation technique, the public can finally read the complete story of what happened in their name after the events of 9/11. The Black Banners (Declassified) includes a new foreword from Ali Soufan that addresses the significance of the CIA’s decision to lift the redactions.

The Black Banners (Declassified)

The Black Banners (Declassified) PDF

Author: Ali H Soufan

Publisher: National Geographic Books

Published: 2020-09-08

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 0393540723

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

The definitive account of an FBI special agent’s al-Qaeda story, unredacted for the first time. Widely heralded on publication as a "must-read" (Military Review) and "important window on America’s battle with al-Qaeda" (Washington Post), Ali Soufan’s revelatory account of the war on terror as seen from its front lines changed the way we understand al-Qaeda and how the United States prosecuted the war—and led to hard questions being asked of our leaders. When The Black Banners was published in 2011, significant portions of the text were redacted. After subsequent review by the Central Intelligence Agency, those redactions have been lifted. Their removal corrects the record on how vital intelligence was obtained from al-Qaeda suspects and brings forth important new details on the controversial use of enhanced interrogation techniques (torture) to extract information from terror suspects. For many years, proponents of the use of these techniques have argued that they produced actionable intelligence in the war on terror. This edition of The Black Banners explodes this myth; it shows Soufan at work using guile and intelligent questioning—not force or violence—to extract some of the most important confessions in the war, and it vividly recounts the failures of the government’s torture program. Drawing on Soufan’s experiences as a lead operative for the FBI and declassified government records, The Black Banners (Declassified) documents the intelligence failures that lead to the tragic attacks on New York and Washington, DC, and subsequently how torture derailed the fight against al-Qaeda. With this edition, eighteen years on from the first sanctioned enhanced interrogation technique, the public can finally read the complete story of what happened in their name after the events of 9/11. The Black Banners (Declassified) includes a new foreword from Ali Soufan that addresses the significance of the CIA’s decision to lift the redactions.

The Black Banners

The Black Banners PDF

Author: Ali H. Soufan

Publisher: Penguin Group

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780241956168

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

A book that will change the way we think about al-Qaeda, intelligence, and the events that forever changed America.

Anatomy of Terror: From the Death of bin Laden to the Rise of the Islamic State

Anatomy of Terror: From the Death of bin Laden to the Rise of the Islamic State PDF

Author: Ali Soufan

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2017-05-02

Total Pages: 384

ISBN-13: 039324203X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

"Anyone who wants to understand the world we live in now should read this book." —Lawrence Wright To eliminate the scourge of terrorism, we must first know who the enemy actually is, and what his motivations are. In Anatomy of Terror, former FBI special agent and New York Times best-selling author Ali Soufan dissects Osama bin Laden’s brand of jihadi terrorism and its major offshoots, revealing how these organizations were formed, how they operate, their strengths, and—crucially—their weaknesses. This riveting account examines the new Islamic radicalism through the stories of its flag-bearers, including a U.S. Air Force colonel who once served Saddam Hussein, a provincial bookworm who declared himself caliph of all Muslims, and bin Laden’s own beloved son Hamza, a prime candidate to lead the organization his late father founded. Anatomy of Terror lays bare the psychology and inner workings of al-Qaeda, the Islamic State, and their spawn, and shows how the spread of terror can be stopped. Winner of the Airey Neave Memorial Book Prize

Enhanced Interrogation

Enhanced Interrogation PDF

Author: James E. Mitchell, Ph.D.

Publisher: Crown Forum

Published: 2016-11-29

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 1101906855

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

In the dark days immediately after 9/11, the CIA turned to Dr. James Mitchell to help craft an interrogation program designed to elicit intelligence from just-captured top al-Qa'ida leaders and terror suspects. A civilian contractor who had spent years training U.S. military members to resist interrogation should they be captured, Mitchell, aware of the urgent need to prevent impending catastrophic attacks, worked with the CIA to implement "enhanced interrogation techniques"--which included waterboarding. In Enhanced Interrogation, Mitchell now offers a first-person account of the EIT program, providing a contribution to our historical understanding of one of the most controversial elements of America's ongoing war on terror. Readers will follow him inside the secretive "black sites" and cells of terrorists and terror suspects where he personally applied enhanced interrogation techniques. Mitchell personally questioned thirteen of the most senior high-value detainees in U.S. custody, including Abu Zubaydah; Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the amir or "commander" of the USS Cole bombing; and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind behind the September 11, 2001, terror attacks--obtaining information that he maintains remains essential to winning the war against al-Qa'ida and informing our strategy to defeat ISIS and all of radical Islam. From the interrogation program's earliest moments to its darkest hours, Mitchell also lifts the curtain on its immediate effects, the controversy surrounding its methods, and its downfall. He shares his view that EIT, when applied correctly, were useful in drawing detainees to cooperate, and that, when applied incorrectly, they were counter-productive. He also chronicles what it is like to undertake a several-years-long critical mission at the request of the government only to be hounded for nearly a decade afterward by congressional investigations and Justice Department prosecutors. Gripping in its detail and deeply illuminating, Enhanced Interrogation argues that it is necessary for America to take strong measures to defend itself from its enemies and that the country is less safe now without them than it was before 9/11.

Hard Measures

Hard Measures PDF

Author: Jose A. Rodriguez

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2013-04-30

Total Pages: 294

ISBN-13: 145166348X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

An explosive memoir about the creation and implementation of the controversial Enhanced Interrogation Techniques by the former Chief Operations Officer for the CIA's Counterterrorism Center.

The Terror Courts

The Terror Courts PDF

Author: Jess Bravin

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2013-02-19

Total Pages: 539

ISBN-13: 0300191340

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Soon after the September 11 attacks in 2001, the United States captured hundreds of suspected al-Qaeda terrorists in Afghanistan and around the world. By the following January the first of these prisoners arrived at the U.S. military's prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where they were subject to President George W. Bush's executive order authorizing their trial by military commissions. Jess Bravin, the "Wall Street Journal"'s Supreme Court correspondent, was there within days of the prison's opening, and has continued ever since to cover the U.S. effort to create a parallel justice system for enemy aliens. A maze of legal, political, and moral issues has stood in the way of justice--issues often raised by military prosecutors who found themselves torn between duty to the chain of command and their commitment to fundamental American values.While much has been written about Guantanamo and brutal detention practices following 9/11, Bravin is the first to go inside the Pentagon's prosecution team to expose the real-world legal consequences of those policies. Bravin describes cases undermined by inadmissible evidence obtained through torture, clashes between military lawyers and administration appointees, and political interference in criminal prosecutions that would be shocking within the traditional civilian and military justice systems. With the Obama administration planning to try the alleged 9/11 conspirators at Guantanamo--and vindicate the legal experiment the Bush administration could barely get off the ground--"The Terror Courts" could not be more timely.

The Man Who Warned America

The Man Who Warned America PDF

Author: Murray Weiss

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2004-05-25

Total Pages: 367

ISBN-13: 006050823X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

The first comprehensive inside look at the investigation into Al Qaeda, and at John O፥ill, the FBI counter–terrorism agent who warned that an attack like September 11 was imminent. For many people, September 11 was the day ೨e unimaginableߨappened. But one FBI agent, John O፥ill, had repeatedly warned the US Government that such an attack was possible. Ironically, O፥ill lost his own life on September 11, just days after beginning a new job as head of security for the World Trade Center. As one of the FBI's foremost counter–terrorism experts, John O፥ill played a leading role in almost every major investigation of terrorism against Americans in the past decade. O፥ill was a dashing, larger–than–life character who irritated many members of US and foreign governments with his aggressive, hands–on tactics and his insistent, repeated warnings about the possibility of an attack on US soil. Disillusioned by his experiences with the FBI, O፥ill left governmental service to assume the position of chief of security for the Twin Towers in August 2001. Full of twists and turns, John O፥ill's tragic story reveals how one man's unheeded warnings came back to haunt the country he worked so hard to defend.

Subtle Tools

Subtle Tools PDF

Author: Karen J. Greenberg

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2023-02-21

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 0691216576

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

How policies forged after September 11 were weaponized under Trump and turned on American democracy itself In the wake of the September 11 terror attacks, the American government implemented a wave of overt policies to fight the nation’s enemies. Unseen and undetected by the public, however, another set of tools was brought to bear on the domestic front. In this riveting book, one of today’s leading experts on the US security state shows how these “subtle tools” imperiled the very foundations of democracy, from the separation of powers and transparency in government to adherence to the Constitution. Taking readers from Ground Zero to the Capitol insurrection, Karen Greenberg describes the subtle tools that were forged under George W. Bush in the name of security: imprecise language, bureaucratic confusion, secrecy, and the bypassing of procedural and legal norms. While the power and legacy of these tools lasted into the Obama years, reliance on them increased exponentially in the Trump era, both in the fight against terrorism abroad and in battles closer to home. Greenberg discusses how the Trump administration weaponized these tools to separate families at the border, suppress Black Lives Matter protests, and attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Revealing the deeper consequences of the war on terror, Subtle Tools paints a troubling portrait of an increasingly undemocratic America where disinformation, xenophobia, and disdain for the law became the new norm, and where the subtle tools of national security threatened democracy itself.

Lanterna Rally - Theme by Grace Themes