Skip to content Skip to footer

An Interview With Jason Leopold on How the CIA Kidnapped and Tortured “the Wrong Guy”

Listen to Jason Leopold Discuss his most recent investigation, “CIA Kidnapped, Tortured 'the Wrong Guy,' Says Former Agency Operative Glenn Carle” on the Peter B. Collins Show, beginning at 16:50 in the player below.

Listen to Jason Leopold Discuss his most recent investigation, CIA Kidnapped, Tortured 'the Wrong Guy,' Says Former Agency Operative Glenn Carle on the Peter B. Collins Show, beginning at 16:50 in the player below.

Truthout’s Deputy Managing Editor and superfine investigative reporter returns to update us on his print and video reports on Glenn Carle, a high-ranking CIA official with zero experience in interrogation, who was ordered to interrogate Afghan Haji Pacha Wazir. Carle at first resisted using “enhanced interrogation” methods, but was told by his boss to do “whatever it takes” to get Wazir to talk, and that President Bush had authorized such practices. He went to Morocco and then the infamous Salt Pit prison in Afghanistan to conduct the sessions, and quickly was convinced that Wazir was not bin Laden’s banker as alleged, but could not persuade his superiors, and Wazir was held until early 2010. We talk about the role of Obama and then-CIA Director Panetta in the redaction of Carle’s book, The Interrogator: An Education, and in the coverup of the serious mistakes and crimes that occurred under BushCo. While Carle’s revelations are important, he rejects the idea of real investigations and accountability, raising real questions about his understanding of the dimensions of criminal government actions in the so-called War on Terror. And Carle’s passing reference to the CIA’s 1970′s-era torture manual called Kubark undermines his claims that when he was first approached with this assignment, he thought the agency was “out of the business” of torture.

We’re not going to stand for it. Are you?

You don’t bury your head in the sand. You know as well as we do what we’re facing as a country, as a people, and as a global community. Here at Truthout, we’re gearing up to meet these threats head on, but we need your support to do it: We must raise $21,000 before midnight to ensure we can keep publishing independent journalism that doesn’t shy away from difficult — and often dangerous — topics.

We can do this vital work because unlike most media, our journalism is free from government or corporate influence and censorship. But this is only sustainable if we have your support. If you like what you’re reading or just value what we do, will you take a few seconds to contribute to our work?