Interrogator Speaks: I'm Still Tortured By What I Saw In Iraq

washingtonpost.com:

I should have felt triumphant when I returned from Iraq in August 2006. Instead, I was worried and exhausted. My team of interrogators had successfully hunted down one of the most notorious mass murderers of our generation, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq and the mastermind of the campaign of suicide bombings that had helped plunge Iraq into civil war. But instead of celebrating our success, my mind was consumed with the unfinished business of our mission: fixing the deeply flawed, ineffective and un-American way the U.S. military conducts interrogations in Iraq. I'm still alarmed about that today.

I'm not some ivory-tower type; I served for 14 years in the U.S. Air Force, began my career as a Special Operations pilot flying helicopters, saw combat in Bosnia and Kosovo, became an Air Force counterintelligence agent, then volunteered to go to Iraq to work as a senior interrogator. What I saw in Iraq still rattles me -- both because it betrays our traditions and because it just doesn't work.

Read the whole story: washingtonpost.com

Comments

[Counterglow]

As long as soldiers like Matthew Alexander still serve in the US armed forces, there's hope for your country. But hope isn't enough. The criminals who spat on the US Constitution by endorsing and committing war crimes should be brought to justice. Sweeping the whole disgusting mess under a rug and pretending it never happened will solve nothing, and will provide cover for the next fascist traitor who decides he's bigger than the Consitution and smarter than the founders.

[lesterfreeman]

Great article. Proof is in the pudding. Abhorrent behavior in us will never destroy abhorrent behavior in others. Abhorrent behavior is what it is wherever it is, and it feeds off its ilk the world over.

[tailgateshirts]

Man and I thought only pussys talked and talking got us nowhere. Looks like Bush Admin taught me wrong these last 8 years. shocker.

[AtheistUS]

2008, November 30: Bush and Cheney are not in prison yet.

Read also: 'The Shock Doctrine' by Naomi Klein.

[PSM42]

What odds do give on one being jail within thirty years? Twenty? Ten?

[bbridges1962]

They will never see the inside of a cell.

[wadenelson1]

>I learned in Iraq that the No. 1 reason foreign fighters flocked there to fight were the abuses carried out at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. Our policy of torture was directly and swiftly recruiting fighters for al-Qaeda in Iraq

ouch.

[starfire426]

This is barely the surface of the iceberg of the atrocities that this administration has allowed to take place during the course of this war. I don't think we're ever going to know the full extent of the damage done (a lot of it will be classified information), however I do believe that we'll be accurately informed that it was a lot worse than what we've been told by the present administration!

[JumpingCholla]

It's nice to know we have people like this in our military. With the new Obama Administration, we may be able to reverse the destructive policies of bush/cheney in record time.

[Merckx]

This story is a must read for anyone who cares about humanity.

[BillMelater]

"Murderers like Zarqawi can kill us, but they can't force us to change who we are. We can only do that to ourselves.­"

And when we do, they have won.

http://billmel8er.wordpress.com

[Babysnake]

Excellent.
We all need to give Obama and his team the tools they need to bring Bush and his gang to justice.
I hope more have the courage to stand up and expose the truth.

[DFL]

Hey republicans, quagmire accomplished.

[TheAlchemist]

Remarkable article.

A few of them never abandoned the jihadist cause but still gave up critical information. One actually told me, "I thought you would torture me, and when you didn't, I decided that everything I was told about Americans was wrong. That's why I decided to cooperate.­"

Both perpetrator and detainee are harmed by torture.

[antiprop1]

I hope Alexander is ready for the Fox News whistleblower assault he is about to receive. I wonder what the Great American Rush Klanity has ready for him on Monday's show.

[richardwb]

The comments to this story have been disappeare­d...

[TheAlchemist]

Agreed.

[kellygrrrl]

oh, I thought we had past that dark phase in our history

[PSM42]

Welcome to H po reality. Where v e t t ing is an everyday event.