Shadow Government

A front-row seat to the Republicans' debate over foreign policy, including their critique of the Biden administration.

Zelikow on the effectivenss of “enhanced” interrogation

Having promised more to say on whether "enhanced" interrogation worked, Philip Zelikow offers it up in an op-ed in today’s New York Times. An excerpt: America inadvertently carried out an experiment in how best to question Qaeda captives. On the one side there was the C.I.A. effort, while on the other there was the military-run program against Al ...

Having promised more to say on whether "enhanced" interrogation worked, Philip Zelikow offers it up in an op-ed in today's New York Times. An excerpt:

Having promised more to say on whether "enhanced" interrogation worked, Philip Zelikow offers it up in an op-ed in today’s New York Times. An excerpt:

America inadvertently carried out an experiment in how best to question Qaeda captives. On the one side there was the C.I.A. effort, while on the other there was the military-run program against Al Qaeda in Iraq. The Iraq program, organized by the Joint Special Operations Command, was reformed after the Abu Ghraib scandals. It respected basic international standards. It used teams made up of experts from the military, the C.I.A. and law enforcement. The F.B.I. did not have to stay away, as it did from the C.I.A.’s "enhanced" interrogations.

Qaeda captives in Iraq were hard cases, often more seasoned in violence than captives taken elsewhere. Yet the program in Iraq was and remains highly successful. I was impressed when I observed it in 2005 as part of a wider look at our intelligence efforts. I know that Joint Special Operations Command leaders told the White House that they could interrogate captives effectively under the higher standards.

Christian Brose is a senior editor at Foreign Policy. He served as chief speechwriter and policy advisor for U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice from 2005 to 2008, and as speechwriter for former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell from 2004 to 2005.

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