The Hunt for KSM

by Terry McDermott

  But I’m asking you again to be fair with many Detainees which are not enemy combatant. Because many of them have been unjustly arrested. Many, not one or two or three. Cause the definition you which wrote even from my view it is not fair. Because if I was in the first Jihad times Russia. So I have to be Russian enemy. But America supported me in this because I’m their alliances when I was fighting Russia. Same job I’m doing. I’m fighting. I was fighting there Russia now I’m fighting America. So, many people who been in Afghanistan never leave. Afghanistan stay in but they not share Taliban or al Qaida. They been Russian time and they cannot go back to their home with their corrupted government. They stayed there and when America invaded Afghanistan parliament. They had been arrest. They never have been with Taliban or the others. So many people consider them as enemy but they are not. Because definitions are very wide definition so people they came after October of 2002, 2001. When America invaded Afghanistan, they just arrive in Afghanistan cause they hear there enemy. They don’t know what it means al Qaida or Usama bin Laden or Taliban. They don’t care about these things. They heard they were enemy in Afghanistan they just arrived. As they heard first time Russian invade Afghanistan. They arrive they fought when back than they came. They don’t know what’s going on and Taliban they been head of government. You consider me even Taliban even the president of whole government. Many people they join Taliban because they are the government.

  When Karzai they came they join Karzai when come they join whatever public they don’t know what is going on. So, many Taliban fight even the be fighters because they just because public. The government is Taliban then until now CIA don’t have exactly definition well who is Taliban, who is al Qaida. Your Tribunal now are discussing he is enemy or not and that is one of your jobs. So this is why you find many Afghanis people, Pakistanis people even, they don’t know what going on they just hear they are fighting and they help Muslim in Afghanistan. Then what. There are some infidels which they came here and they have to help them. But then there weren’t any intend to do anything against America. Taliban themselves between Taliban they said Afghanistan which they never again against 9/11 operation. The rejection between senior of Taliban of what al Qaida are doing. Many of Taliban rejected what they are doing. Even many Taliban, they not agree about why we are in Afghanistan. Some of them they have been with us. Taliban never in their life at all before America invade them the intend to do anything against America.

  They never been with a Qaida. Does not mean we are here as American now. They gave political asylum for many countries. They gave for Chinese oppositions or a North Korean but that does not mean they are with them same thing many of Taliban. They harbor us as al Qaida does not mean we are together. So, this is why I’m asking you to be fair with Afghanis and Pakistanis and many Arabs which been in Afghanistan. Many of them been unjustly. The funny story they been Sunni government they sent some spies to assassinate UBL then we arrested them sent them to Afghanistan/Taliban. Taliban put them into prison. Americans they came and arrest them as enemy combatant. They brought them here. So, even if they are my enemy but not fair to be there with me. This is what I’m saying. The way of the war, you know, very well, any country waging war against their enemy the language of the war are killing. If man and woman they be together as a marriage that is up to the kids, children. But if you and me, two nations, will be together in war the others are victims. This is the way of the language. You know 40 million people were killed in World War One. Ten million kill in World War. You know that two million four hundred thousand be killed in the Korean War. So this language of the war.

  Any people who, when Usama bin Laden say I’m waging war because such reason, now he declared it. But when you said I’m terrorist, I think it is deceiving peoples. Terrorists, enemy combatant. All these definitions as CIA you can make whatever you want. Now, you told me when I ask about the witnesses, I’m not convinced that this related to the matter. It is up to you. Maybe I’m convinced but your are head and he [gesturing to Personal Representative] is not responsible, the other, because you are head of the committee. So, finally it’s your war but the problem is no definitions of many words. It would be widely definite that many people be oppressed. Because war, for sure, there will be victims. When I said I’m not happy that three thousand been killed in America. I feel sorry even. I don’t like to kill children and the kids. Never Islam are, give me green light to kill peoples. Killing, as in the Christianity, Jews, and Islam, are prohibited. But there are exception of rule when you are killing people in Iraq. You said we have to do it. We don’t like Saddam. But this is the way to deal with Saddam. Same thing you are saying. Same language you use, I use. When you are invading two-thirds of Mexican, you call your war manifest destiny. It up to you to call it what you want. But other side are calling you oppressors. If now George Washington. If now we were living in the Revolutionary War and George Washington he being arrested through Britain. For sure he, they would consider him enemy combatant. But American they consider him as hero. This right the any Revolutionary War they will be as George Washington or Britain. So we are considered American Army bases which we have from seventies in Iraq. Also, in the Saudi Arabian, Kuwait, Qatar, and Bahrain. This is kind of invasion, but I’m not here to convince you. Is not or not but mostly speech is ask you to be fair with people. I’m don’t have anything to say that I’m not enemy. This is why the language of any war is killing. I mean the language of the war is victims. I don’t like to kill people. I feel very sorry they been killed kids in 9/11. What I will do? This is the language. Sometime I want to make great awakening between American to stop foreign policy in our land. I know American people are torturing us from seventies. ______ I know they talking about human rights. And I know it is against American Constitution, against American laws. But they said ever law, they have exceptions, this is your bad luck you have been part of the exception of our laws. They have something to convince me but we are doing same language. But we are saying we have Sharia law, but we have Koran. What is enemy combatant in my language?

  DETAINEE: (through translator): Allah forbids you not with regards to those who fight you not for not for your faith nor drive you out of your homes from dealing kindly and justly with them. For Allah love those who are just. There is one more sentence. Allah only forbids you with regards to those who fight you for your faith and drive you out of your homes and support others in driving you out from turning to them for friendship and protection. It is as such to turn to them in these circumstances that do wrong.

  DETAINEE: So we are driving from whatever deed we do we ask about Koran or Hadith. We are not making up for us laws. When we need Fatwa from the religious we have to go back to see what they said scholar. To see what they said yes or not. Killing is prohibited in all what you call the people of the book, Jews, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. You know the Ten Commandments very well. The Ten Commandments are shared between all of us. We all are serving one God. Then now kill you know it very well. But war language also we have language for the war. You have to kill. But you have to care if unintentionally or intentionally target if I have if I’m not at the Pentagon. I consider it is okay. If I target now when we target in USA we choose them military target, economical, and political. So, war central victims mostly means economical target. So if now American they know UBL. He is in this house they don’t care about his kids and his. They will just bombard it. They will kill all of them and they did it.

  They kill wife of Dr. Ayman Zawahiri and his two daughters and his son in one bombardment. They receive a report that is his house be. He had not been there. They killed them. They arrested my kids intentionally. They are kids. They been arrested for four months they had been abused. So, for me I have patience. I know I’m not talk about what’s come to me. The American have human right. So, enemy combatant itself, it flexible word. So I think God knows that many who been arrested, they been unjustly arrested. Otherwise, military throughout history know very well. They kn
ow war will never stop. War start from Adam when Cain he killed Abel until now. It’s never gonna stop killing of people. This is the way of the language. American start the Revolutionary War then they starts the Mexican then Spanish War then World War One, World War Two. You read the history. You know never stopping war. This is life. But if who is enemy combatant and who is not? Finally, I finish statement. I’m asking you to be fair with other people.

  RRESIDENT: Does that conclude your statement, Khalid Sheikh Muhammad?

  DETAINEE: Yes.

  RRESIDENT: All right.

  Detainee Question & Answer

  RRESIDENT: Does the Personal Representative have any questions for the Detainee based on his statement?

  PPERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE: No, sir.

  RRESIDENT: Does the Recorder have any questions for the Detainee?

  RECORDER: No, sir.

  RRESIDENT: Do either of the Tribunal members wish to question the Detainee?

  MEMBER: No, sir. Nothing further, sir.

  RRESIDENT: All right.

  Closing Unclassified Section

  RRESIDENT: All unclassified evidence having been provided to the Tribunal, this concludes the open tribunal session.

  RRESIDENT: Khalid Sheikh Muhammad,* you shall be notified of the Tribunal decision upon completion of the review of these proceedings by the Combatant Status Review Tribunal convening authority in Washington, D.C. If the Tribunal determines that you shall not be classified as an enemy combatant, you will be released to your home country as soon as arrangements can be made. If, however, the Tribunal determines your classification as an enemy combatant, you may be eligible for an Administrative Review Board hearing at a future date.

  RRESIDENT: The Administrative Review Board will make an assessment of whether there is continued reason to believe that you pose a threat to the United States or its coalition partners in the ongoing armed conflict against terrorist organizations such as al Qaeda and its affiliates and supporters or whether there are other factors bearing upon the need for continued detention.

  RRESIDENT: You will have the opportunity to be heard and to present relevant information to the Administrative Review Board. You can present information from your family and friends that might help you at that Board. You are encouraged to contact them as soon as possible to begin to gather information that may help you.

  RRESIDENT: A military officer will be assigned at a later date to assist you in the Administrative Review Board process.

  Adjourn Open Session

  RRESIDENT: The open session of this Tribunal hearing is adjourned.

  RECORDER: The time is 2:43 pm. The date is 10 March 2007.

  RECORDER: All rise. [The Tribunal withdrew from the hearing room.]

  Authentication

  I certify the material contained in this transcript is a true and accurate verbatim rendering of the testimony and English-language translation of Detainee’s words given during the open session of the Combatant Status Review Tribunal of ISN 10024.

  CAPT JAGC USN

  Tribunal President

  NOTES

  PREFACE

  1. Author interview with senior U.S. counterterrorism official, 2010.

  CHAPTER 1—Mukhtar

  1. Author interview, 2011.

  2. Author interview, 2010.

  3. The account of the raids is drawn from interviews with multiple intelligence and law enforcement officers. Former CIA case officer John Kiriakou has written about the raids in his book The Reluctant Spy: My Secret Life in the CIA’s War on Terror and has been interviewed by other journalists. Elements of his account of his time in Pakistan, particularly his claimed knowledge of interrogations to which he was not witness, have been questioned and Kiriakou has acknowledged discrepancies in the details in his own recountings. This is hardly unique to Kiriakou. Time, memory, and conflicting ambitions have often created a less than clear historical record of events related to 9/11. We have tried here and throughout the book to reconcile conflicting accounts and, when unable to do so, have not included the material.

  4. Kiriakou, The Reluctant Spy: My Secret Life in the CIA’s War on Terror (New York: Bantam, 2010).

  5. Jane Mayer, The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals (New York: Doubleday, 2008), 40.

  6. Author interviews with multiple law enforcement officials, including former FBI special agent Ali Soufan.

  CHAPTER 2—Those Without

  1. Mohammed family, author interview, 2010; passport copies, author collection.

  2. Author copy of passport.

  3. “Baluchistan During Persian Empires,” accessed at http://www.balochrise.com/vb/showthread.php?t=507.

  4. Central Intelligence Agency, “Khalid Shaykh Muhammad: Preeminent Source on Al-Qa’ida,” July 13, 2004, author copy.

  5. Author interview, June 2004.

  6. Central Intelligence Agency, “Khalid Shaykh Muhammad.”

  7. Joint Task Force Guantánamo, Detainee Assessment Brief, December 8, 2006.

  8. Enrollment records, Chowan University.

  9. Author telephone interview, 2003.

  10. Author telephone interview, 2003.

  11. Author interview, 2003.

  12. Central Intelligence Agency, “Khalid Shaykh Muhammad.”

  13. NGO records reviewed in Peshawar, 2003.

  14. Author telephone interview, 2010.

  15. Author telephone interview, 2003.

  16. Joint Task Force Guantánamo, Detainee Assessment Brief, December 8, 2006.

  17. Ibid.

  18. Author interview, 2003.

  19. Khalil A. Khalil, interviewed by the staff of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, and quoted in a memorandum prepared for the record, February 25, 2004, author copy.

  20. Author interview, 2002.

  21. Author interview, 2003.

  22. Author interview, 2002.

  CHAPTER 3—Jihad

  1. The account of Basit’s time in New York is drawn primarily from transcripts of the trials United States v. Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, et al.; United States v. Mohammed A. Salameh, et al.; United States v. Usama bin Laden; and United States v. Ismoil, et al.

  2. Much of the information about Murad and his relationship with Yousef comes from transcripts of Murad’s interrogations by Philippine intelligence during the period from January through March of 1995, and from summaries of his interrogation by the FBI in April of 1995 (author copies).

  3. Graff, Garrett M., The Threat Matrix: The FBI at War in the Age of Global Terror (New York: Little, Brown, 2011), 167.

  CHAPTER 4—Bojinka

  1. Internal FBI memos, 1998, author copies. Details of Basit’s and Mohammed’s activities in Manila are drawn from these memos, from Murad’s interrogations, and from Basit’s interrogations and trial transcripts.

  2. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, interrogation report, author copy.

  3. “The Islamic Fundamentalist/Extremist Movements in the Philippines and Their Links with International Terrorist Organizations,” unpublished special report by the Philippine National Police Intelligence Group, Special Investigations Command, December 1994, author copy.

  4. Murad interrogation reports.

  5. Internal FBI memos, 1998.

  CHAPTER 5—Making a Case

  1. Author interview, October 2011.

  2. The arrest of Basit has been described numerous times. One of the first accounts, and still one of the best and most comprehensive, is contained in Simon Reeve’s The New Jackals (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1999). Reeve’s book was prescient in its description of the dangers posed by radical Islamist terror.

  3. United States v. Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, et al.

  CHAPTER 6—Sorting It Out

  1. FBI FD-302 on the interrogation of Murad, April 1995, author copy.

  2. FBI internal report, 1996.

  3. Presidential Decision Directive 39, June 21, 1995, accessed at http://www.fas.org/irp/of
fdocs/pdd39.htm.

  4. George Tenet, “Written Statement for the Record of the Director of Central Intelligence before the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States,” March 24, 2004, author copy.

  5. As quoted in John Kiriakou, The Reluctant Spy: My Secret Life in the CIA’s War on Terror (New York: Bantam Books, 2010), 170.

  6. Author interview, 2010.

  7. Author interview, 2002.

  8. Interview with Balkan journalist Esad Hecimovic, 2011, and review of documents.

  9. Accessed at http://intelfiles.egoplex.com/cia-ngos-1996.pdf.

  10. National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, Final Report, 488.

  CHAPTER 7—A Near Miss

  1. Author interview, 2010.

  2. Author interview, 2003. The account of this meeting derives from interviews with several of its participants; there was broad agreement over its general tone and outcome.