Arrest of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed could lead to bin Laden: CCISS

CBC News Online ^ | March 1, 2003

[thinktwice]

Some really interesting info on this Kahlid character can be found at http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/852391/posts?page=56#56

[Dan(9698)]

>>>...A Canadian expert on terrorist networks says the arrest of a top al-Qaeda member in Pakistan suggests the U.S. may be closer to cornering Osama bin Laden.

They must be real experts on terrorists since they give refuge to them.

Why don't some of their "experts" pick up part of the load.

It gets heavy carrying all the slackers.

[Alberta's Child]

You really think Benny Hill is going to come to his defense?

[11th_VA]

That $25 million reward would be pretty tempting, I should think.

"Who wants to be a gazillionaire?"

[happydogx2]

I wonder why this wasn't kept quiet for a couple of weeks so they could mine this guys brain and hit the cells where they are. By now everyone has scattered.

A win is a win is a win, I guess.

[telebob]

Uh...folks..Osama's still dead. He's not coming back except in imagination..This guy can still lead us to some big fish and I hope they give him the same treatment they gave David Crosby when the medical profession coaxed Melissa Etheridge's insignificant other's baby out of him...the Ejacuvac and an electric cattle prod!
There's a combo..

[dixiechick2000]

Ramsey Clark.

[B-Chan]

Physical torture is in general an ineffective method of obtaining intelligence. Physical pain has the effect of degrading the quality of the subject's responses; the goal is to improve subject responses and direct them along desired lines.

People can be made to say anything under physical torture, but will often lie, distort truth, or omit critical facts in an effort to stop the pain without giving away everything. It often takes some time before information obtained under torture is confirmed, and by then the usefulness of the information is probably not going to be high. Moral concerns aside, a severely tortured person's thoughts are in the end reduced to frenzied garble, and eventually subjects become incapable of responding coherently, rendering them useless as a source of intelligence.

Hypnotic drugs ("truth serums") such as sodium pentothal have many of the same drawbacks as the above, and many more as well (unpredictable effects, dosing effects, medical ethics problems, the possibility of accidentally killing the subject, distorted or unreliable information, etc.).

Psychological pressure works much better. Once the subject's weaknesses are identified, pressure upon them can be used to crack even the toughest nut. The average person is cowardly and weak-willed and will say or do anything to "get out of trouble" with intimidating authority figures, especially when there is no hope of escape; for such people, the good cop/bad cop (or "carrot and stick") interrogation technique works best. (Example: suspects in major crime cases can often be induced to testify against other suspects in the same case by alternately threating them with serious consequences and offering them reduced or dropped charges in exchange for accurate testimony.)

For ideologues or other tough cases, sleep deprivation is a common psychological technique; by depriving the subject of proper rest (and/or clean surroundings, privacy, appropriate lighting, etc.) they become disoriented and suggestible and may "spill the beans" by mistake. Combined with mild physical pressure (busting rocks, solitary confinement, loud music/bright lights, etc.), these sorts of "soft tortures" can work wonders.

Finally, there's extortion: even the strongest-willed subject will often be compelled to obey if non-cooperation means that members of their immediate family are believed to be subject to reprisals . A courageous man will endure torture or death himself rather than cooperate with an interrogator, but if his wife or children are threatened with bad treatment only the most iron-willed (or sociopathic) subject will continue to resist.

Offers of payment (in cash or kind )can also be an effective tool in convincing people to turn traitor.

In general, the idea is to make the subject WANT to tell you what you want to know, not to FORCE him to do so. I'm sure that our intelligence guys know what they are doing in that regard.

Please note that the above opinion is based solely on my reading of materials available in the popular press on the subject; I am not an expert in the field, and my assessments may be in error.

[cubreporter]

Don't think the arrest will take us to where bin laden's grave is...it's too hot there for humans to bear.

[tubebender]

The best time to capture bin Lauden would be in October 2004 just before the elections.

I heard some total nut case call in to the Medved show yesterday claiming he knew President Bush had Osamas body in cold storage and will bring it out just before the election.

[ninonitti]

President Bush had Osamas body in cold storage and will bring it out just before the election.

Don't laugh there was a Demonrat pol running for office who withheld news of his pol father's death for 2 or 3 days until the eve in a city of Boston election.....I think he still lost.