The CIA's Destroyed Interrogation Tapes and the Saudi-Pakistani 9/11 Connection

On December 5, the CIA's director, General Michael V. Hayden, issued a statement disclosing that in 2005 at least two videotapes of interrogations with al Qaeda prisoners were destroyed. The tapes, which the CIA did not provide to either the 9/11 Commission, nor to a federal court in the case of Zacarias Moussaoui, were destroyed, claimed Hayden, to protect the safety of undercover operatives.

Hayden did not disclose one of the al Qaeda suspects whose tapes were destroyed. But he did identify the other. It was Abu Zubaydah, the top ranking terror suspect when he was tracked and captured in Pakistan in 2003. In September 2006, at a press conference in which he defended American interrogation techniques, President Bush also mentioned Abu Zubaydah by name. Bush acknowledged that Zubaydah, who was wounded when captured, did not initially cooperate with his interrogators, but that eventually when he did talk, his information was, according to Bush, "quite important."

In my 2003 New York Times bestseller, Why America Slept: The Failure to Prevent 9/11, I discussed Abu Zubaydah at length in Chapter 19, "The Interrogation." There I set forth how Zubaydah initially refused to help his American captors. Also, disclosed was how U.S. intelligence established a so-called "fake flag" operation, in which the wounded Zubaydah was transferred to Afghanistan under the ruse that he had actually been turned over to the Saudis. The Saudis had him on a wanted list, and the Americans believed that Zubaydah, fearful of torture and death at the hands of the Saudis, would start talking when confronted by U.S. agents playing the role of Saudi intelligence officers.

Instead, when confronted by his "Saudi" interrogators, Zubaydah showed no fear. Instead, according to the two U.S. intelligence sources that provided me the details, he seemed relieved. The man who had been reluctant to even confirm his identity to his U.S. captors, suddenly talked animatedly. He was happy to see them, he said, because he feared the Americans would kill him. He then asked his interrogators to call a senior member of the Saudi royal family. And Zubaydah provided a private home number and a cell phone number from memory. "He will tell you what to do," Zubaydah assured them

That man was Prince Ahmed bin Salman bin Abdul-Aziz, one of King Fahd's nephews, and the chairman of the largest Saudi publishing empire. Later, American investigators would determine that Prince Ahmed had been in the U.S. on 9/11.

American interrogators used painkillers to induce Zubaydah to talk -- they gave him the meds when he cooperated, and withdrew them when he was quiet. They also utilized a thiopental sodium drip (a so-called truth serum). Several hours after he first fingered Prince Ahmed, his captors challenged the information, and said that since he had disparaged the Saudi royal family, he would be executed. It was at that point that some of the secrets of 9/11 came pouring out. In a short monologue, that one investigator told me was the "Rosetta Stone" of 9/11, Zubaydah laid out details of how he and the al Qaeda hierarchy had been supported at high levels inside the Saudi and Pakistan governments.

He named two other Saudi princes, and also the chief of Pakistan's air force, as his major contacts. Moreover, he stunned his interrogators, by charging that two of the men, the King's nephew, and the Pakistani Air Force chief, knew a major terror operation was planned for America on 9/11.

It would be nice to further investigate the men named by Zubaydah, but that is not possible. All four identified by Zubaydah are now dead. As for the three Saudi princes, the King's 43-year-old nephew, Prince Ahmed, died of either a heart attack or blood clot, depending on which report you believe, after having liposuction in Riyadh's top hospital; the second, 41-year-old Prince Sultan bin Faisal bin Turki al-Saud, died the following day in a one car accident, on his way to the funeral of Prince Ahmed; and one week later, the third Saudi prince named by Zubaydah, 25-year-old Prince Fahd bin Turki bin Saud al-Kabir, died, according to the Saudi Royal Court, "of thirst." The head of Pakistan's Air Force, Mushaf Ali Mir, was the last to go. He died, together with his wife and fifteen of his top aides, when his plane blew up -- suspected as sabotage -- in February 2003. Pakistan's investigation of the explosion -- if one was even done -- has never been made public.

Zubaydah is the only top al Queda operative who has secretly linked two of America's closest allies in the war on terror -- Saudi Arabia and Pakistan -- to the 9/11 attacks. Why does Bush, and the CIA, continue to protect the Saudi Royal family and the Pakistani military, from the implications of Zubaydah's confessions? It is, or course, because the Bush administration desperately needs Pakistani and Saudi help, not only to keep Afghanistan from spinning completely out of control, but also as counterweights to the growing power of Iran. The Sunni governments in Riyadh and Islamabad have as much to fear from a resurgent Iran as does the Bush administration. But does this mean that leads about the origins of 9/11 should not be aggressively pursued? Of course not. But this is precisely what the Bush administration is doing. And now the cover-up is enhanced by the CIA's destruction of Zubaydah's interrogation tapes.

The American public deserves no less than the complete truth about 9/11. And those CIA officials now complicit in hiding the truth by destroying key evidence should be held responsible.

Comments

[MoNut]

Don't ask.

Don't tell.

Covered in flag.

With a side of freedom fries.

That's how Americans seem to like their truth these days...

McWhitehouse.

Over 280 million served daily.

Who will be the patriot in the MSM that takes Sibel Edmonds' offer?

BCCI... ISI...CIAs­....Citigr­oup...Abu Dhabi...Dubai...

It's not like the CIAs haven't been caught for doing similar in the 90's and practically lost a whole tier in resignations from it or anything... the BCCI linked ones being pardoned by Bill at the end of his Presidency..

It's not like John Kerry didn't write the final Congressional report on it or anything...

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

http://www.icssa.org/article_detail_parse.php?a_id=806&rel=

Kerry's not feeling deja vu? Groundhog's dayish? Anything?

How 'bout Hillary?

She just took campaign donations from three of those BCCI linked pardons....

And Citigroup, who just got bailed out by Abu Dhabi, is one of her top three campaign donors...

No questions from Hillary? Don't ask. Don't tell... again?

Surely her law experience taught her more than that of the rat's ass in the soupcan bit, no?

America needs a hero.

She's neck deep in a flood of sellouts.

[rabun666]

It would seem that these tapes of torture produced no results otherwise they would have kept them to prove that torture works. Furthermore, the results achieved were false and that resources were spent investigating false information extracted thru torture.

[lastams]

It’s so nice to see a blog about our good buddies the Saudis as they seem always to be noticably absent from the political dialog.
One has to wonder how it is possible to have a serious discussion about Iraq and the “regional conflict” while leaving out the majority player, Saudi Arabia.
While we are supposedly fighting for a new democracy in Iraq, the Saudis posses what is arguably the most repressive regime in the region.
While this administration points to the Iranian influence, according to senior American military officals, Saudi Arabia and Libya were the source of about 60 percent of the foreign fighters who came to Iraq in the past year to serve as suicide bombers or to facilitate other attacks.
And why is it that every analysis of oil prices blame each and every increase on market conditions,
or some unforeseen disruption in the region, and never once mention the Saudis, who virtually OWN OPEC.
The Saudis dictate oil policy to ALL members of OPEC, impose quotas, and set the price of oil at every wellhead in the Middle East.
And least we forget, a handful of terrorists, mostly Saudi, attacked us on 9-11, prompting a massive infusion of funds into “National Defense” and an invasion of Iraq, but no action whatsoever against “The Kingdom”.
So when do we start getting the straight story about our good buddies the Saudis?
One would think we’d be less worried about the Iranians and more concerned about the real threat to our national interests, a repressive totalitarian fundamentalist Moslem nation that supports the insurgency in Iraq and has it’s foot on our collective throats.

[willyloman]

As involved as the Saudis and Pakistanis were, they couldn't get NORAD to stand down...

and they couldn't figure out a way to drop building 7 into it's own footprint...

They can't allow an investigation into Saudi and Pakistan involvement without it eventually leading to questions like these.

[Horst]

American intelligence agencies are incompetent. There are probably more Arabic speakers in a typical Queens bakery than in the whole FBI. Posner's article is fascinating.

[Robert59]

You're wrong as to why the administration doesn't come clean; if it did the people would insist we go to war against Saudi and Pakistan. 3 members of the royal family and the Pakistan air force's chief of staff mean this conspiracy has very deep roots which if we trace them go back to those countries' respective governments.

I am incredulous so few know about the 3 princes and the Pakistani officer.

Why hasn't Bush come clean?

[realpolitic]

The lack of investigation into ties between 9/11 and the Saudi Royal family probably has more to do with their business relationships with the Bush family. I wonder who killed the Saudi princes and the Pakistani Air Force chief? Was it we American or the Saudis themselves?

[leveymg]

Prince Ahmed bin Salman bin Abdul-Aziz is the son of one of the co-directors of Saudi intelligence
His father, Prince Salman bin Abd al-Aziz ibn Abd al-Rahman, is the head of the Sudairi Seven, and the primary rival for power with Crown Prince (now King) Abdullah. If you want to understand 9/11, you have to understand the split within the Saudi Royal family and the succession struggle that everyone anticipated would turn into a violent civil war in Saudi Arabia. See, Wiki.
NOTE: Both Directors of Saudi Intelligence appear to have been implicated in these links to the 9/11 attack. The son of one of them appears to have been murdered after CIA interrogators determined his involvement, along with a number of other Saudis and the Pakistani Air Minister, his wife, and a planeload of Pakistani Air Force officers. Plenty of reason to destroy tapes of Zubaida's interrogation.

[epotruchyeahright]

We most certainly live in a police state. I am speechless. My America has become a dictatorship whereby large corporations use money and influence to install leaders who will do anything, whether or not it violates our beloved Constitution, to further their profit ambitions around the world.
Forgive me for getting to the party so late. Please help me climb out of my hole of utter despair.

[SamThornton]

CIA Chief Hayden's release of this information (which didn't occur on his watch), coupled with public release of the Iraq NIE, both of which undercut Bush policies, are interesting to say the least.

It's almost as if the intelligence community and the DOD are suddenly, if not in open rebellion against the White House, have at least fired a couple of shots across the White House bow.

Since at least 2004 there has been public speculation regarding President Bush's fitness to serve. If high officials below the President came to embrace those speculations, the actions they might take in response could well resemble exactly what we see unfolding.

If this is so, we might expect more announcements and revelations that would tend to shortstop President Bush's more grandiose predilections in national security affairs.

[AlyoshaKaramazov]

Soooooooooooooooo,

the very same "techniques" (torture) WE say are productive because the victim will say anything to stop the torture, is the very same information we're then using to link Saudis and Pakis to 9/11

Intellectually honest? Not so much.

[brawnwyn]

How lame can the CIA be to use the excuse that the films were destroyed "because they wanted to protect the identies of the agents"? Are they so technologically inept in the CIA that they could not have blocked out the faces of the interrogators? They seem to be able to "redact" everything else.

And why have none of the media picked up on this lame excuse?

[RnR]

How about the connection in the timing of the revelation of the fact that the cia was destroying tapes?

That'll teach them to release an NIE that the neocons don't like huh?

[thedudeabides]

the bushes are in bed with the saudis...and i am eternally mystified as to why we never pressed the pakistanis to go into waziristan and grab bin laden...the behind the scenes deals with both regimes i'm sure would sicken us...

[Nuld]

Gerald Posner is always on the money. He has done us all a great service by providing some very interesting information in his book Why American Slept. We're still sleeping. Congress must investigate (and quickly) who is really calling the shots for the destruction of these tapes or shall I say alleged destruction of these tapes. Who really knows what happened? This is a detriment to our national interests. Let's hope his current comments are picked at the national news level, although I'm not counting on it. After all, "news" is now a marketed commodity, and in this age of corporacy, this kind of real news "doesn't sell." The American people are not idiots and I object to being treated like one. We can connect the dots. It’s all about the oil. Until otherwise, let the conspiracies begin.