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CIA Caught on Film with Possible Pre-Knowledge of Prison Slaughter.
The first thing that caught my amazement was the fact that CIA agents would allow themselves to be filmed while interrogating a prisoner.
CIA Caught on Film with Possible Pre-Knowledge of Prison Slaughter.
The following article was published in today’s Boston Globe and a similar was also published today in the New York Times.
The first thing that caught my amazement was the fact that CIA agents would allow themselves to be filmed while interrogating a prisoner. The other thing is that these CIA agents are revealing their pre-knowledge of the slaughter to come or at least the fate of those that do not cooperate.
This material puts into doubt the official line that the prisoners provoked the uprising. The treatment of prisoners may well have played a .role or the uprising scenario could be completely false and a pretext to a planned slaughter.
The smoking gun in what may have led to the uprising is in these words:
"The problem is, he’s got to decide if he wants to live or die," Dave says to Spann. "If he wants to die, he’s going to die here. Or he’s going to (expletive) spend the rest of his short (expletive) life in prison. It’s his decision, man. We can only help the guys who want to talk to us."
I am also amazed that the established press published the story. This story may also be the reason the Bush administration revealed CIA officer Spann’s identity and the circumstances of his death before the story broke hoping get ahead the outrage this material is going to create world wide by creating public sympathy for Spann and to show that the Bush Administration is open about it’s use of the CIA at the prison fortress.
From the Boston Globe – Friday December 7, 2001
Fighting Terror Interrogations
CIA TACTICS
American reportedly threatened
Reuters
Washington – CIA officers interrogated an American pro-Taliban prisoner at a fortress in northern Afghanistan shortly before a violent uprising and bluntly said his survival depended on giving them information, according to a Newsweek report.
One of the CIA officers, John Michael Spann, was killed in the revolt by Taliban prisoners last week.
It was unclear whether the CIA officers knew that the 20 year old prisoner, John Walker Lindh, was an American during the interview.
The interrogation, which took place shortly before the uprising, was videotaped by an Afghan cameraman, Newsweek said in the story posted on its Web site yesterday. It offered a rare inside look at how CIA operatives question prisoners.
Spann, with a Kalashnikov rifle strapped across his back, squatted near Walker, who was kneeling with elbows tied behind his back.
"What’s your name? Hey," Spann says, snapping his fingers twice in front of Walker’s face. Walker does not respond.
"Who brought you here? Wake up! Who brought you here? How did you get here? Hello?" Spann tries again.
Spann later confers with the second CIA officer known as "Dave."
"The problem is, he’s got to decide if he wants to live or die," Dave says to Spann. "If he wants to die, he’s going to die here. Or he’s going to (expletive) spend the rest of his short (expletive) life in prison. It’s his decision, man. We can only help the guys who want to talk to us."
Later Spann says to Walker: "They (Sept. 11 hijackers) killed other Muslims. There were several hundred other Muslims killed in the bombing. Are you going to talk to us?" Walker does not respond.
Dave says to Spann: "This guy got his chance. He got his chance."
The following article was published in today’s Boston Globe and a similar was also published today in the New York Times.
The first thing that caught my amazement was the fact that CIA agents would allow themselves to be filmed while interrogating a prisoner. The other thing is that these CIA agents are revealing their pre-knowledge of the slaughter to come or at least the fate of those that do not cooperate.
This material puts into doubt the official line that the prisoners provoked the uprising. The treatment of prisoners may well have played a .role or the uprising scenario could be completely false and a pretext to a planned slaughter.
The smoking gun in what may have led to the uprising is in these words:
"The problem is, he’s got to decide if he wants to live or die," Dave says to Spann. "If he wants to die, he’s going to die here. Or he’s going to (expletive) spend the rest of his short (expletive) life in prison. It’s his decision, man. We can only help the guys who want to talk to us."
I am also amazed that the established press published the story. This story may also be the reason the Bush administration revealed CIA officer Spann’s identity and the circumstances of his death before the story broke hoping get ahead the outrage this material is going to create world wide by creating public sympathy for Spann and to show that the Bush Administration is open about it’s use of the CIA at the prison fortress.
From the Boston Globe – Friday December 7, 2001
Fighting Terror Interrogations
CIA TACTICS
American reportedly threatened
Reuters
Washington – CIA officers interrogated an American pro-Taliban prisoner at a fortress in northern Afghanistan shortly before a violent uprising and bluntly said his survival depended on giving them information, according to a Newsweek report.
One of the CIA officers, John Michael Spann, was killed in the revolt by Taliban prisoners last week.
It was unclear whether the CIA officers knew that the 20 year old prisoner, John Walker Lindh, was an American during the interview.
The interrogation, which took place shortly before the uprising, was videotaped by an Afghan cameraman, Newsweek said in the story posted on its Web site yesterday. It offered a rare inside look at how CIA operatives question prisoners.
Spann, with a Kalashnikov rifle strapped across his back, squatted near Walker, who was kneeling with elbows tied behind his back.
"What’s your name? Hey," Spann says, snapping his fingers twice in front of Walker’s face. Walker does not respond.
"Who brought you here? Wake up! Who brought you here? How did you get here? Hello?" Spann tries again.
Spann later confers with the second CIA officer known as "Dave."
"The problem is, he’s got to decide if he wants to live or die," Dave says to Spann. "If he wants to die, he’s going to die here. Or he’s going to (expletive) spend the rest of his short (expletive) life in prison. It’s his decision, man. We can only help the guys who want to talk to us."
Later Spann says to Walker: "They (Sept. 11 hijackers) killed other Muslims. There were several hundred other Muslims killed in the bombing. Are you going to talk to us?" Walker does not respond.
Dave says to Spann: "This guy got his chance. He got his chance."
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This amazing piece of footage does indeed cast doubt on the story that was broadcast immediately following the uprising, and differs in significant respects from what was said of the prisoner interviews themselves. Assuming the other interrogations were conducted the same way, this raises a lot of questions.
1. The prisoner was in a kneeling position with arms tied behind his back. He wasn't free to attack his interrogator.
2. There was at least one NA guard with an assault rifle present who would have prevented such an attack
3. The interrogation took place in the open, not in a large room with other prisoners lined up waiting their turn.
4. The interrogator clearly says "You will die here."
5. The interrogator could not have been "overpowered" by the prisoner in these circumstances.
Another curious thing: The TV segment ends with the statement that the uprising started "a few hours after" the Walker interrogation, but the story on the ABC News site says that it was only several minutes later that the uprising began.
Recent reports have documented food aid in Northern Afghanistan -- which was supposed to increase massively once the Northern Alliance took Mazar-e-Sharif -- is being distributed at half the rate that it was before the NA over-ran the north. This is due to the fact that chaos has enveloped the region. Thousands and thousands are at imminent risk of starvation and many already have starved. Once could be forgiven for not this fact if the US mainstream press is their only source of information.
Since it was done in front of a news camera - and I believe seveal newmen, I would not even see these as crediable threats.
Whether the trouble at the prison was a set up by the CIA or an uprising by prisoners cannot be determined from this video. Anyone who sees it is streaching the evidence too far.