The Black Banners Declassified How Torture Derailed The War On Terror After 9 11 Declassified Edition

Author : Ali Soufan
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
Page : 640 pages
File Size : 42,5 Mb
Release : 2020-09-08
Category : History
ISBN : 9780393540734

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

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.

Author : Ali H Soufan
Publisher : National Geographic Books
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 51,7 Mb
Release : 2020-09-08
Category : History
ISBN : 9780393540727

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The Black Banners (Declassified) by Ali H Soufan Pdf

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.

Author : Ali H. Soufan
Publisher : Penguin Group
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 2012
Category : Torture
ISBN : 0241956161

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The Black Banners by Ali H. Soufan Pdf

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

Author : Ali Soufan
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
Page : 599 pages
File Size : 48,5 Mb
Release : 2011-09-12
Category : History
ISBN : 9780393083477

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The Black Banners: The Inside Story of 9/11 and the War Against al-Qaeda (First Edition) by Ali Soufan Pdf

A book that will change the way we think about al-Qaeda, intelligence, and the events that forever changed America. On September 11, 2001, FBI Special Agent Ali H. Soufan was handed a secret file. Had he received it months earlier—when it was requested—the attacks on New York and Washington could have been prevented. During his time on the front lines, Soufan helped thwart plots around the world and elicited some of the most important confessions from terrorists in the war against al-Qaeda—without laying so much as a hand on them. Most of these stories have never been reported before, and never by anyone with such intimate firsthand knowledge. This narrative account of America's successes and failures against al-Qaeda is essential to an understanding of the terrorist group. We are taken into hideouts and interrogation rooms. We have a ringside seat at bin Laden's personal celebration of the 9/11 bombings. Such riveting details show us not only how terrorists think and operate but also how they can be beaten and brought to justice.

Author : Ali Soufan,Daniel Freedman
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 49,5 Mb
Release : 2021-03-25
Category : September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001
ISBN : 0141997133

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The Black Banners Declassified by Ali Soufan,Daniel Freedman Pdf

Author : Ali H. Soufan,Daniel Freedman
Publisher : Penguin UK
Page : 418 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 2011
Category : History
ISBN : 9781846145025

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The Black Banners by Ali H. Soufan,Daniel Freedman Pdf

Offers an insider's account of the realities of counter-terrorism. This title takes us into the interrogation rooms, into the hideouts. It explains why the pervasive use of torture is not helping in the 'War on Terror', and how an enlightened approach to intelligence is not only possible, but essential.

Author : Ali Soufan
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
Page : 384 pages
File Size : 51,5 Mb
Release : 2017-05-02
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780393242034

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Anatomy of Terror: From the Death of bin Laden to the Rise of the Islamic State by Ali Soufan Pdf

"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

Author : Jose A. Rodriguez,Bill Harlow
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 294 pages
File Size : 41,9 Mb
Release : 2013-04-30
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9781451663488

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Hard Measures by Jose A. Rodriguez,Bill Harlow Pdf

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.

Author : Jess Bravin
Publisher : Yale University Press
Page : 539 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 2013-02-19
Category : History
ISBN : 9780300191349

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The Terror Courts by Jess Bravin Pdf

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.

Author : James E. Mitchell, Ph.D.,Bill Harlow
Publisher : Crown Forum
Page : 320 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 2016-11-29
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781101906859

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Enhanced Interrogation by James E. Mitchell, Ph.D.,Bill Harlow Pdf

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.

Author : Richard English
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 264 pages
File Size : 42,8 Mb
Release : 2024-02-27
Category : Technology & Engineering
ISBN : 9780192655158

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Does Counter-Terrorism Work? by Richard English Pdf

State responses to terrorism have shaped politics and society globally. But how far, and in what precise ways, has counter-terrorism actually succeeded? Based on the author's experience of studying terrorism and counter-terrorism for over three decades, Does Counter-Terrorism Work? offers an historically-grounded, systematic, and expert interrogation of the effectiveness of state responses to terrorist violence. Previous analyses have too often tended to be polarized, simplistic, and short-termist; they have also lacked a comprehensive framework against which properly to assess the (in)efficacy of counter-terrorist efforts over time. Richard English's pioneering book carefully defines what effective counter-terrorism would involve, and then tests that layered framework through cross-case, balanced, historically-focused comparison of important counter-terrorist campaigns. Drawing on a vast range of source material, Does Counter-Terrorism Work? assesses in detail the strategic, tactical, and personal or political achievements and failures evident this blood-stained field of work. The book is intended to stimulate debate and reflection among scholars, students, practitioners, and the wider public. Every one of us is daily affected by the choices made in counter-terrorist politics and policy. This deeply original book helps us to understand how society and politics have been shaped by such decisions in the past, and prepares us to respond more effectively in the future to one of the world's most important challenges.

Author : Chris Floyd
Publisher : Lulu.com
Page : 250 pages
File Size : 47,5 Mb
Release : 2006-08-07
Category : History
ISBN : 9781847289704

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Empire Burlesque by Chris Floyd Pdf

The Secret History of the Bush Regime From the Award-Winning journalist comes a much-anticipated collection of his penetrating and prescient coverage of the Bush Administration. Never has the American Republic stood in such a degraded state as it does today: terrorized, militarized, subjected to arbitrary rule, riddled with corruption, despised and feared around the world - and more exposed to attack than ever before. How the hell did we get here? Empire Burlesque tells the tale, giving us the secret history of the Bush Regime - the backroom deals, the covert ops, and the monstrous betrayals of American principles that have gone down behind the pious rhetoric and sugary deceptions.

Author : Peter L. Bergen
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 416 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 2022-08-02
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9781982170530

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The Rise and Fall of Osama Bin Laden by Peter L. Bergen Pdf

The world’s leading expert on Osama bin Laden delivers for the first time the “riveting” (The New York Times) definitive biography of a man who set the course of American foreign policy for the 21st century and whose ideological heirs we continue to battle today. In The Rise and Fall of Osama bin Laden, Peter Bergan provides the first reevaluation of the man responsible for precipitating America’s long war with al-Qaeda and its decedents, capturing bin Laden in all the dimensions of his life: as a family man, as a zealot, as a battlefield commander, as a terrorist leader, and as a fugitive. The book sheds light on his many contradictions: he was the son of a billionaire yet insisted his family live like paupers. He adored his wives and children, depending on his two wives, both of whom had PhDs, to make critical strategic decisions. Yet, he also brought ruin to his family. He was fanatically religious but willing to kill thousands of civilians in the name of Islam. He inspired deep loyalty, yet, in the end, his bodyguards turned against him. And while he inflicted the most lethal act of mass murder in United States history, he failed to achieve any of his strategic goals. In his final years, the lasting image we have of bin Laden is of an aging man with a graying beard watching old footage of himself, just as another dad flipping through the channels with his remote. In the end, bin Laden died in a squalid suburban compound, far from the front lines of his holy war. And yet, despite that unheroic denouement, his ideology lives on. Thanks to exclusive interviews with family members and associates, and documents unearthed only recently, Bergen’s “comprehensive, authoritative, and compelling” (H.R. McMaster, author of Dereliction of Duty and Battlegrounds: The Fight to Defend the Free World) portrait of Osama bin Laden reveals for the first time who he really was and why he continues to inspire a new generation of jihadists.

Author : Larry Hartenian
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 373 pages
File Size : 40,9 Mb
Release : 2021-04-28
Category : History
ISBN : 9781000382365

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George W Bush Administration Propaganda for an Invasion of Iraq by Larry Hartenian Pdf

Hartenian’s history of George W Bush propaganda for an invasion of Iraq returns the administration’s approach to its conceptual origins. Hartenian places "evidence" in the center of his analysis, showing that Rumsfeld’s "the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence" meant that no evidence was necessary to justify an invasion. The 9/11 attacks, indeed, "changed everything" for the Bush administration and in its aftermath the time for regime change in Iraq had simply come. With no good evidence to support its fears, the administration was certain of a post-9/11-conceived Iraq–al Qaeda "nexus," just as with no evidence except the "absence of evidence" it was certain of Iraqi mastery of "denial and deception" that hid "Saddam’s" "evil" activities. Resting on Cheney’s "one percent doctrine," administration "certainty" of the threat from Iraq required a US invasion. The policy offices of Douglas Feith at the Pentagon, with the help of George Tenet at CIA, would generate a case of such fright and enormity—the "mushroom cloud"—that required administration action. Manipulating intelligence and ignoring the growing body of evidence undermining its case, the Bush administration invaded Iraq to bring about "regime change."

Author : LISA. HAJJAR
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Page : 375 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 2024-08-13
Category : History
ISBN : 9780520409675

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The War in Court by LISA. HAJJAR Pdf

How hundreds of lawyers mobilized to challenge the illegal treatment of prisoners captured in the war on terror and helped force an end to the US government's most odious policies. In The War in Court, sociologist Lisa Hajjar traces the fight against the US torture policy by lawyers who brought the "war on terror" into the courts. Their victories, though few and far between, forced the government to change the way prisoners were treated and focused attention on state crimes perpetrated in the shadows. If not for these lawyers and their allies, US torture would have gone unchallenged because elected officials and the American public, with a few exceptions, did nothing to oppose it. This war in court has been fought to defend the principle that there is no legal right to torture. Told as a suspenseful, high-stakes story, The War in Court clearly outlines why challenges to the torture policy had to be waged on the legal terrain and why hundreds of lawyers joined the fight. Drawing on extensive interviews with key participants, her own experiences reporting from Guantánamo, and her deep knowledge of international law and human rights, Hajjar reveals how the ongoing fight against torture has had transformative effects on the legal landscape in the United States and on a global scale.