Former FBI agent who went undercover with al Qaeda tells Senate hearing extreme Bush torture regime was 'ineffective'

By Mail Foreign Service
Updated:

A former FBI interrogator of an al Qaeda leader told a U.S. Senate hearing today that extreme techniques used by the Bush administration were 'ineffective, slow and unreliable' and caused the prisoner to stop talking.

Ali Soufan, testifying behind a screen to hide his identity, said his team obtained a 'treasure trove' of information from Abu Zubaydah using a non-threatening approach that outwitted the detainee - even getting him to talk by using his childhood nickname.

Soufan said his team had to step aside when Central Intelligence Agency contractors took over using simulated drowning, sleep deprivation and other harsh methods. He said those techniques caused the prisoner to 'shut down'.

FBI agent

FBI agent Ali Soufan testifies from behind a black curtain and a room divider, right, to protect his identity, on Capitol Hill in Washington, today

Soufan testified before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee, holding the first hearing on extreme interrogation methods since the Obama administration last month released Bush administration legal opinions that justified the techniques.

The hearing quickly became partisan when the chairman, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat, promised to unravel 'our country's descent into torture' and vowing to expose 'a bodyguard of lies' by the Bush administration.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican asked whether 'We would have this hearing if we were attacked this afternoon.'

He said the hearing was a 'political stunt,' and that Democrats were trying to judge officials who - soon after the September 1 attacks - 'woke up one morning like most Americans and said, "Oh my God, what's coming next."'

Soufan countered that his personal experience showed the techniques did not work even when there was not a lot of time to prevent an attack.

'Waiting 180 hours as part of the sleep deprivation stage is time we cannot afford to wait in a ticking bomb scenario,' he said.

He said the harsh techniques were 'ineffective, slow and unreliable and as a result, harmful to our efforts to defeat al-Qaeda.'

Graham at times appeared irate, commenting at one point: 'The people we're prosecuting didn't rob a liquor store.'

He said former Vice President Dick Cheney has suggested 'There was good information' obtained from the extreme methods.

'I would like the committee to get that information. Let's get both sides of the story here,' Graham said.

Graham contended that Soufan did not know all the information obtained from Abu Zubaydah.

Soufan responded that some Bush administration claims of success using harsh methods against Zubaydah were 'half truths.'

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