The “Torture Works” Story

After Adam Goldman exposed the identity of Jihadi John, ISIL’s executioner, as Mohammed Emwazi, it set off an interesting response in Britain. CagePrisoners — the advocacy organization for detainees — revealed details of how MI5 had tried to recruit Emwazi and, when he refused, had repeatedly harassed him and his family and prevented him from working a job in Kuwait (where he was born).

While that certainly doesn’t excuse beheadings, it does raise questions about how the intelligence services track those it has identified as potential recruits and/or threats.

And seemingly in response to those questions, the former head of MI6 has come forward to say that torture has worked in a ticking time bomb scenario — that of the toner cartridge plot in 2010.

In his first interview since stepping down from Secret Intelligence Service in January, Sir John Sawers told the BBC yesterday that torture “does produce intelligence” and security services “set aside the use of torture… because it is against the values” of British society, not because it doesn’t work in the short term. Sir John defended the security services against accusations they had played a role in the radicalising of British Muslims, including Mohammed Emwazi, who it is claimed is the extremist responsible for the murder of hostages in Syria.

The IoS can reveal details of a dramatic “Jack Bauer real-time operation” to foil an al-Qaeda plot to bring down two airliners in 2010. According to a well-place intelligence source, the discovery of a printer cartridge bomb on a UPS cargo aircraft at East Midlands airport was possible only because two British government officials in Saudi Arabia were in “immediate communication” with a team reportedly using torture to interrogate an al-Qaeda operative as part of “ticking bomb scenario” operation.

The terror plot was to use cartridge bombs to bring down two aircraft over the eastern United States. However, British authorities intercepted the first device at the cargo airport hub after what they described as a “tip-off” from Saudi Arabia. A second device was intercepted aboard a freight plane in Dubai; both aircraft had started their trips in Yemen.

The IoS understands there was a frantic search prompted by “two or three” calls to Saudi Arabia after the tip-off, with security services battling to find the device. French security sources revealed the device was within 17 minutes of detonating when bomb disposal teams disarmed it.

One intelligence source said: “The people in London went back on the phone two or three times to where the interrogation was taking place in Riyadh to find out specifically where the bomb was hidden. There were two Britons there, in immediate communication with where the interrogation was taking place, and as soon as anything happened, they were in touch with the UK. It was all done in real time.”

I find this rather interesting for several reasons.

At the time, multiple sources on the Saudi peninsula revealed that authorities learned of this plot — and therefore learned about the bombs — from an apparent double agent (and former Gitmo detainee), Jabir al-Fayfi, who had left AQAP and alerted the Saudis to the plot. If so, it would mean what was learned from torture (if this account can be trusted) was the precise location of the explosives in planes that boxes that had already been isolated. I’m not certain, but that may mean this “success” prevented nothing more than an explosion in a controlled situation, because it had already been tipped by a double agent who presumably didn’t need to be tortured to share the information he had been sent in to obtain.

That is, the story, as provided, may be overblown.

Or may be referring to torture that happened in a different place and time, as part of an effort to “recruit’ al-Fayfi.

But I’m interested in it for further reasons.

The toner cartridge story significantly resembles the UndieBomb 2.0 plot, which was not only tipped by a double agent, but propagated by it (indeed, I recently raised questions about whether leaks about both were part of the same investigation). But in that case, the double agent came not via Gitmo and Saudi “deradicalization,” but via MI5, via a recruitment effort very like what MI5 used with Emwazi.

Indeed, it is not unreasonable to imagine that Emwazi knew that double agent and/or that CagePrisoners has suspicions about who he is.

I have increasingly wondered whether the treatment of a range of people implicated in Yemeni and/or Somali networks (MI5 accused Emwazi of wanting to travel to the latter) derives from the growing awareness among networks who have intelligence services have tried to recruit who else might have been recruited.

Which might be one reason to tie all this in with “successful torture” — partly a distraction, partly an attempt to defer attention from a network that is growing out of control.

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18 replies
  1. Bitter Angry Drunk says:

    “I have increasingly wondered whether the treatment of a range of people implicated in Yemeni and/or Somali networks (MI5 accused Emwazi of wanting to travel to the latter) derives from the growing awareness among networks who have tried to be recruited who else might have been recruited.”

    Seems like there might be a word or words missing toward the end of that paragraph?

  2. bloopie2 says:

    Can you clarify this post a bit? The key sentences seem to be missing something (although maybe that’s because I’m not an expert on all this.)
    .
    “I have increasingly wondered whether the treatment of a range of people implicated in Yemeni and/or Somali networks (MI5 accused Emwazi of wanting to travel to the latter) derives from the growing awareness among networks who have tried to be recruited who else might have been recruited.” How does a network try to be recruited? And who is aware of what? Does it mean, “awareness, among the members of a particular network (define it?), which members have tried to become double agents, of others who might have been recruited as double agents”? Is this all about double agents, or something else?
    .
    And, “Which might be one reason to tie all this in with “successful torture” — partly a distraction, partly an attempt to defer attention from a network that is growing out of control.” What “network” (and whose) is growing out of control? A network of double agents? Who is distracting who from what, and how is the “distraction” different from the “defer attention”? Thanks, and please excuse my ignorance if that’s the case/cause.

  3. Don Bacon says:

    It’s interesting that the US which spawned ISIS is now at war with it, because ISIS is waging war against the United States, according to….
    .
    news report
    NORFOLK — A fourth person with possible ties to an alleged plot to help the Islamic State group wage war against the United States is in custody in Hampton Roads on immigration charges, officials said. . .According to the complaint, Juraboev and Saidakhmetov were friends interested in traveling to Syria to help the Islamic State. . .If convicted, each man faces a maximum sentence of 15 years.
    .
    I can see the future: Russia waging war against the US (its proxy Ukraine, that is) so it’s 15 years for planning travel to Russia. Ditto with Iran, China…the list goes on, because so many nations are ” waging war against the United States.”
    .
    Shots fired by China against Philippines in the South China Sea area? Waging war against the United States. Don’t dare plan a trip to China, or the US will concoct a plot against you and send you up the river.
    .
    …and I guess this ties in to the State Department’s worldwide travel caution for US citizens. Everyone should stay home in fortress America and while Washington wars with the world.

  4. ess emm says:

    Independent: …there was “no way” the intelligence that thwarted the bombing “wasn’t procured under duress”. “It is a fair inference to say he was being tortured. He wasn’t volunteering the information, that’s for sure,”

    1. Of course, the MI6 guys “would have made sure they were not actually in the room,” so they dont really know.

    2. Need the name of the person who was tortured.

    3. The Senate torture report resulted in nothing. The sociopaths in Intelligence feel it is safe for them to pushback—they want to do whatever they want in order to “keep us safe,” boast about it later if it suits them, and suffer zero repercussions. Dark Ages ahead?

  5. wallace says:

    quote”CagePrisoners — the advocacy organization for detainees — revealed details of how MI5 had tried to recruit Emwazi and, when he refused, had repeatedly harassed him and his family and prevented him from working a job in Kuwait (where he was born).”unquote

    So, the British intelligence agency is the one who turned him into a bloodthirsty terrorist. Gee whiz..whudda thunk. (hmmm…where have I heard this before?) And now, they’re trying desperately to smoke screen their efforts to enlist him as an informer, and the misery they incurred on him while doing so. I wonder how many other human beings these “intelligence” scumbags have forced into becoming informers, and how many others are currently being harassed and ruined, notwithstanding those that refused and now are terrorists bent on destroying those that ruined their lives. The picture is becoming clearer by the day. No wonder people are joining ISIS in droves. Not that I’m surprised, or condone terrorists, but to read exactly the depths and tactics employed by western intelligence agents to destroy peoples lives confirms my belief that the WOT is actually creating the terrorists, which is EXACTLY what the MIC wants…a never ending war.

    Well folks, if the way things are going is any indication, their WOT just might come back to bite them in the ass. In fact, should the day come a group rises in Murka that seizes the concept of the 100 heads Life and Casualty policy that lists every MIC scumbag and their address’, like this one….

    http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com/2014/02/a-sipsey-street-public-service.html

    , I’d probably clap. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t stop there.

    Meanwhile, I’m positive our own FBI/CIA is doing same and worse.

    quote”While that certainly doesn’t excuse beheadings, it does raise questions about how the intelligence services track those it has identified as potential recruits and/or threats.”unquote

    Ditto. This isn’t to say I in any way condone what ISIS or any other terror group does, but it’s becoming clearer by the day some of the cause and effects of the WOT. Not to mention Unintended Consequences.

    Btw, within the Cage article, I noticed, at first, this guy couldn’t figure out how other countries knew who he was right at the airports. Ummm, this is the digital age…

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biometric_passport

    not to mention….international standards and communications for tracking purposes..

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Biometric_Identity_Management

    Orwell should be turning in his grave.

    • wallace says:

      emptywheel said:”Does it make sense now?”unquote

      Does what make sense now? There’s no reference to whom you are responding to. Unless it’s encrypted to someone. :)

  6. Don Bacon says:

    And then when they let some of these innocents go, after the animal and torture treatment, they are radicalized! —OMG, they join the fight against the U.S., which PROVES they weren’t innocent and PROVES that they never should have been released.
    .
    Why can’t they just forgive and forget? That’s what Rogers and Feinstein would do. (not)

    • wallace says:

      Speaking of making sense. I’m now fully convinced the WOT is a lie. This is a religious war. It’s been going on since ..well.. forever. Even England spent a 1000 years of war over which view of Christ’s legacy a Monarch could impose on his subjects..ie.. Catholic vs Protestant. And that is only wars within Christianity. The real question is.. when do human beings finally wake up to the fact that killing other humans in the name of “god”..is a monstrous lie of biblical proportions.

      • P J Evans says:

        Protestants have only been around for 500 years. You might want to revise your statement….

      • Don Bacon says:

        No, it hasn’t been going on forever. The most recent episode started with the 2003 Iraq invasion, Operation Iraqi Freedom.
        .
        The US strategy of ‘divide and conquer’ not only set the ME Muslims sects against each other, it — oopsy — set Christians against Muslims.
        .
        It’s okay, many profit from it. /s

      • RUKidding says:

        The WOT was initiated mainly for the .001% to make oodles and boodles of money off of it. In strictly practical financial terms, this has been a huge WIN for the .001%. One of the few “things” that the USA does anymore is wage War (apparently with just about anyone anywhere for almost any – or no – reason). It’s ginourmously profitable, and it’s a two-fer bc it kills a lot of useless eaters across the globe.
        *
        The whole religious aspect of it these days is really ancillary to the goal of making money and gaining power and control… which *may* (I have no idea as I’m not a historian and am pretty ignorant of the topic) have been at least part of the goal for all prior so-called “religious wars,” like the Crusades.

  7. tal says:

    Once the security services decide they want your “help”, they don’t take NO for an answer. Read about Mahdi Hashi:

    http://www.salon.com/2013/09/25/this_is_counterterrorism_the_shocking_story_of_mahdi_hashi/

    Word has it the FBI tried to ‘recruit’ Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who refused. That ended badly for Tsarnaev…

    Invariably, all these ‘terror suspects’ turn out to be ‘known’ to the various security services: Charlie Hebdo; Belgium; the Canadian ‘terrorist attacks’ last fall etc.

    What, exactly, does it mean to be known by the security services? Are these people in the employ of? Do they believe or are they led to believe they are working for or helping out?

  8. Stephen says:

    If you’ve been following the Jihadi John story there is also a twist. The CAGE organisation has been labelled by some as a “pro-terrorist” organisation. For example:
    .
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/10981050/The-evidence-shows-that-Cage-is-a-pro-terrorist-group.html
    .
    Which, when you think about it, is akin to labelling those who lobby on the behalf of those accused of more ordinary crimes as “pro-crime”.
    .
    And of course those who lobby on the behalf of whistleblowers like Edward Snowden could be labelled as “pro-leaking”, or even (given what has been said by some about Snowden) “pro-treason”.
    .
    All of which suggests that when it comes to the pursuit of Jihadi John we’re getting into witchhunt terrority

  9. RUKidding says:

    Funny how when humans are routinely tortured and abused, they tend to turn against the torturer. Whodda guessed THAT would be the outcome?? Time for: Palm-to-Face!

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