Detainee treatment: new details

A Justice Department audit concludes that overall, the FBI didn't engage in harsh treatment.

from the May 23, 2008 edition

Page 2 of 2

Page 1 | 2

Critics say that the FBI only belatedly began reporting on the interrogation problems its agents saw. Critics also say that it took the revelation of the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq to push the agency and the US government in general to investigate abuses.

In explaining the difference between themselves and military interrogators, FBI agents note that they have been trained to go after different things. The FBI wants a long-term relationship with informers. The military needs battlefield intelligence to save lives – and they need it fast.

Still, the IG report concludes that the basic breakdown was this: FBI agents in the field wanted to establish a rapport with detainees. The military and intelligence agencies wanted to break them.

This came to a head as early as 2002, in the initial treatment of Abu Zubaydah, who was captured in a shoot­out in Pakistan and is thought to be the highest-ranking member of Al Qaeda in US custody.

Initially, the FBI and CIA planned a joint effort to obtain intelligence from Mr. Zubaydah, notes the report. The FBI selected for the job Agents Gibson and Thomas (both are pseudonyms), who speak Arabic, are skilled interviewers, and were familiar with the Zubaydah investigation.

Agent Gibson told investigators that he and his partner initially took charge of the effort because CIA interrogators were not at the scene when they arrived. "Gibson said he used relationship-building techniques with Zubaydah and succeeded in getting Zubaydah to admit his identity," says the Justice Department audit.

When Zubaydah's medical condition became grave, Gibson accompanied him to the hospital and assisted in giving him care. In the hospital, Zubaydah identified a photo of Khalid Sheikh Muhammad as "Muktar," the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks.

A few days later, CIA personnel assumed control of the interviews. They said Zubaydah was only providing "throw-away information" and said they needed to diminish his capacity to resist.

The paragraph describing what the CIA did is blacked out in the publicly released version of the IG report. But Agent Thomas objected to the treatment, saying it was "borderline torture."

This clash led to an internal FBI decision that its agents would not participate in such sessions. Among other things, FBI officials felt that the methods were not effective – and that eventually they would have to answer to Congress and the public for their actions.

1 | Page 2