Date

Dec 1, 2002

Description

Although CIA censored the date and cable number (while leaving the Zulu time the cable was sent), the first line of paragraph 2 is designated "Day 16" of Nashiri's torture, which makes the date of the interrogation sessions November 30, 2002. Again, this cable reported Nashiri was told of "the new, much worse place" to which "he would be going within days." The cable also reported continued failure by Mitchell and Jessen: "During the interrogation, subject exhibited signs of resistance and provided little new or verifiable information." In response, the interrogators cooked up what the cable called "a theatrically flawless 'rescue' scenario designed to accomplish four things, all aimed at decreasing subject's ability to predict or control events as a resistor" including "anxiety for his safety," "conditioning of learned helplessness," and "fear of the unknown." "Security team members burst into the subject's cell, shouting and howling" while one of the interrogators "who could not be seen by hooded subject" "walled him five times" and then pretended to interrupt the mock killing and rescue him. Afterwards, Nashiri could be seen "crying and blowing his nose, and after perhaps 10 minutes composed himself, and could be seen sitting quietly in the corner of his cell on some tissue paper which he had carefully folded into a pad." The contract psychologists of course "judged that the rescue theatrics had gone exactly as planned and had served their intended purpose."

Document published in following posting(s):

Gina Haspel CIA Torture Cables Declassified

Aug 10, 2018