Continued from parts one and two…
The Zubaydah section is followed by the info on the plot to take out the Library Tower. It starts with the absurd quote from Supreme Court Justice Scalia saying we wouldn’t convict Jack Bauer when he saved lives using torture. Please Antonin, recognize that you are senile and should step down from the bench when you are making decisions based on fictional characters. I hope he doesn’t make any references to the Ambiguously Gay Duo in his upcoming decision on gay marriage.
The study notes the Library Tower Plot has been held up as an example of the “ticking bomb” justification for the use of torture. But this scenario has been absolutely shredded by researchers in the field, as I noted here, and even the Library Plot fails as an example of justification for torture, as indicated by the study.
After an introduction of the main people in the plot, we are given the “official” version from the Bush administration that the country swallowed as a successful use of torture to stop an attack. It sounds like a great fictional story and that’s mostly what it turns out to be once the facts are presented.
It’s stated $50,000 was transferred from KSM to the group supposedly plotting the attack and this was a big piece of what helped bring all the suspects in. But the truth is the money was used for something else and those arrested were eventually let go without charges.
Despite the CIA’s assertion that they would have “possibly,” or “eventually” participated in U.S. operations:
(Soufan) This “eventually” and “possibly” was the best analysts could conclude, despite 183 sessions of waterboarding. … The reality is that the al-Ghuraba cell wasn’t involved, which is why the U.S. didn’t request the arrest of its members and they were sent to their home countries.
Many of them were released after their return. Others were held for several years, but none was ever charged in connection with any plot against the United States.
As for the money and what it was used for:
If there were a ticking bomb that could have been defused by intelligence from Zubair, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and Majid Khan, it would have been in Jakarta, not Los Angeles. On August 5, 2003, a suicide bomber detonated a truck bomb outside of the lobby of the Jakarta Marriott Hotel, killing 11 people and wounding at least 81…the money was used to finance the Marriott bombing.
The study essentially says the plot to bring down the Library Tower may have existed but there was no certainty it was going to happen and it was, at best, a hypothetical plot with no actual movement as to making it happen any time in the near future. There was no “ticking bomb” when it came to this and the release of most of those supposedly involved without any charges is a pretty clear indication the plot was simply used as propaganda for the cheerleaders of torture.
