intel community and interrogations

[tyme]

Just finished a chapter (Al Qaeda's Doctor, about halfway through) of the book Interrogators ending in a major foul-up by the CIA.  Is that really how they operate?  Going into an interrogation with a poor or unplanned approach, wasting a lot of good intelligence, not to mention the months of prior rapport-building interrogations of the prisoner that they burned?

I'm amazed the intelligence community gets any good intel out of anyone if this sort of behavior (lack of intel sharing to the front-line interrogators, poor interrogation techniques by the CIA) is the norm.

[vaskidmark]

No.  The author covered up, manipulated and just plain left out the bad parts.

stay safe.

[French G.]

We're probably losing more good intel because our specwar troops get court martialed if they punch a captured terrorist. I'd hazard to guess that attempts are still made to obtain the intel, the prisoners just don't come back.

[RevDisk]

Definitely pick up a copy of Inside the Wire: A Military Intelligence Soldier's Eyewitness Account of Life at Guantanamo by Eric Saar.  If you're trying to validate a preconception (pro or anti), you'd absolutely hate it.  It's very clear how grey it all is.  Dude was a translator, not an interrogator, so he had only a minimal axe to grind.  Mostly against bureacratic issues, not against the military in general. 

He does point out some fairly "not good" interrogations and behavior by US military personnel.  Some mundane, like the MP's screwing with the prisoners by stepping on their cookie or whatever.  Some...  not so mundane.   

On the other hand, he makes it quite clear that some of these people are absolute and complete threats to the United States.  Some of the prisoners he dealt with flatly told him, (paraphrased) "Dude, you're a nice guy and all that, but I'd happily cut your throat if I could." 

The guy doesn't even pretend to guess at a proper answer to the situation.