Thread by @GitmoWatch

Good morning from Guantanamo!

The first day of the second week of the 40th 9/11 pretrial hearings is briefly delayed (0915) due to crane activity in the Expeditionary Legal Complex area.

David Nevin to question Dr. James E. Mitchell, who waterboarded Nevin's client, Khalid Shaikh Mohammad.

The CIA waterboarded Mohammad 183 times.

Today will be Mitchell's fifth day on the stand. Transcripts from last week's testimony are still not posted, but if you want to catch up on what happened...

There are threads for that!

https://twitter.com/GitmoWatch/status/1220705916342980609?s=20

MilComs called to order.

Reminder, those with Pentagon access can view the hearing streaming at the Pentagon Library.

Public can also view at Ft. Meade.

Cheryl Bormann, who was tied up by the crane this morning, reports she saw prosecutors and witness Mitchell breeze through gate typically reserved for judge and other members of Trial Judiciary, while she and other defense counsel stood in long line with media and NGOs.

4 of 5 defendants are present for Mitchell's testimony.

@BaluchiGitmo waived right to attend today.

Mitchell begins testimony, "I've been looking forward to this."

Mitchell last saw Mohammad in 2006, probably Location 8.

They met multiple times in Location 4, early March 2003 where 'enhanced interrogation techniques' (EITs) occurred.

They also probably met at Location 7.

Mitchell isn't allowed to reveal the names of countries they met in, hence the Location + #.

The date he first met Khalid Shaikh Mohammad is also classified.

Mitchell testifies Khalid Shaikh Mohammad was naked during some 'fireside chats' they had at CIA black sites.

Mohammad was in standing sleep deprivation for 7 days, ~180 hours during the 3rd week of Mar '03.

Mitchell says he wasn't standing for 7 days; physicians wanted him to sit down to catch some catnaps. CIA used 'sleep deprivation' and 'sleep disruption' interchangeably.

In 'Enhanced Interrogation,' page 183, Mitchell says he spent 'thousands of hours with KSM.'

On the stand though "maybe a bit of hyperbole, but not much. My intent was to say thousands of hours with all the detainees."

183 also number of times Mohammaed was water boarded.

Mitchell challenges the characterization that he was the primary enhanced interrogation technician.

"Three people water boarded him, three people were walled him."

They rotated staff so they wouldn't get tired and make mistakes.

Nevin on excerpt in #TheReport regarding Mitchell and Jessen's experience in 'non-standard means of interrogation' expertise.

Mitchell believes he was "Swigert."

"Dunbar" would be Dr. Bruce Jessen

Mitchell says the CIA had already decided to use EITs prior to bringing him on as a contractor, he cites documents referencing the use of SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape) techniques.

Mitchell defensively calls the SSCI report a biased piece written by Senate Staffer. (cc: @DanielJJonesUS)

Calls for #TheReport to be read with the CIA response "which debunks most of this analysis."

@DanielJJonesUS Excerpt from 'Enhanced Interrogation' Mitchell says "I knew I would be required to do things, harsh things, that some would view as unethical, even monstrous."

Mitchell's response to his above authored statement: "All you have to do is look at how the press has treated me and you will see I was absolute prescient in making that statement...But not most Americans - most are grateful for what Jessen and I have done."

#MilComs in 15 minute recess. Back around 10:50.

MilComs called to order

In response to a cable which states Mohammad was told he wouldn't be 'punished' for changing his answers to interrogators.

Mitchell categorically denies the characterization - "The CIA wasn't in the work of 'punishing.'"

Sounds like Mitchell's take on cable was punish=prosecuted, not punish=torture.

Nevin wants to know how EITs evolved. Mitchell says they evolved from techniques developed in the 1950's but he otherwise didn't trace the origins.

Nevin: Some of them from Korea? S. America?

Mitchell says he's not familiar.

Nevin: Did you know use of confinement boxes (like the one Abu Zubaydah was famously held in) were used by Russia in WWII?

nytimes.com/2019/12/04/us/…

Nevin: How about the Kubark Manual?

Mitchell: I downloaded it after leaving CIA...it seemed silly, like a conspiracy theory.

Mitchell maintains the calculus going on in his mind at the time of using EITs was it was legal, approved by President Bush.

He said he wouldn't have done it if the techniques weren't legal.

On torture consequences: "We do not believe we can assure the same here for a man forced through these processes and who will be made to believe this is the future course of the remainder of his life."

SSCI excerpt:

Someone wrote '50' on the wall of his cell, suggesting he'd be held incommunicado for the next 50 years.

Mitchell says it's the first he had heard that - it wasn't him, and whomever did it should have been sent home.

Some EITs were based on techniques developed for SERE school.

Nevin challenges the gross misunderstanding that because SERE trainees go through techniques without lasting harm, there would be no lasting harm in someone who didn't volunteer

Mitchell argues the military does 'zero-notice' training captures of pilots equating those captures as real-world, then backpedals stating still not the same - pilots knew it wasn't real so equivalency isn't true.

Nevin asks if Mitchell did stress hormone testing as it relates to SERE.

"No, Morgan did. I've known Dr. Morgan for sometime."

Dr. Morgan has offered some opinions on Drs. Mitchell and Jessen:

“They’re not really scientists.”

nytimes.com/2014/12/11/hea…

Mitchell says Mohammad, who is seated a few dozen feet from him, was only treated badly for 21 days. The rest of the time "he was getting belly rubs and complaining about the cheese" while they tried to get him to talk.

#MilComs in lunch recess. Back 13:15-ish

#MilComs called to order

Mitchell again blames Abu Zubaydah for the CIA believing he was more involved in al Qaida than he actually was, and thus why he was tortured.

AZ was found with video tapes the CIA connected to AQ.

Nevin: You got sued by several people who were tortured by you, didn't you?

Mitchell: I don't agree with the characterization that it was torture.

Mitchell: I never heard of two of those people, at all. (2 plaintiffs in Salim v Mitchell and Jessen)

"Gul Rahman's cousin or something sued - they couldn't even get into the US because they were on a no-fly watch list."

Gul Rahman froze to death in a CIA black site.

Mitchell: Yeah, we got sued but I think what happened was Brennan and Obama's political appointees threw me and Jessen under the bus.

Find @aclu's case here: aclu.org/cases/salim-v-…

Nevin: Is it true there was a settlement?

Mitchell: Yes.

Nevin: How much was the settlement?

Objection.

Mitchell: There's a court order preventing me from saying the amount.

Mitchell on detainee lies: When people lie to us or tell us the truth, we have to put what they say in cable traffic.

It's not my job to decide if something is true. That's someone else's job.

On water boarding 'beyond what's necessary:' Mitchell says "'Wrong' has a lot of different connotations. I call it 'unnecessary.'"

They began EITs within 40 minutes of Mohammad's arrival Location 4.

Mitchell describes the cavity searches CIA physicians - "They put a rubber glove on, stick their finger up the anus and move it around to make sure there's nothing up there. My complaint was they didn't use a lubricant (for Nashiri)."

Mitchell describes scene at Loc 4 - no shower, noise generators. A song called "Let the bodies hit the floor" by Drowning Pool was reportedly played at Black Sites. Mitchell didn't know about this.

Side note: Drowning Pool played at Guantanamo in 2017

spin.com/2017/07/drowni…

KSM was in relative isolation for 21 days but Mitchell says it wasn't really isolation because he was meeting with debriefers, physicians, interrogators during that time.

Mitchell: They had talked about using mock burial in good cop/bad cop scenario but the CIA didn't use technique because 'it's probably against the torture convention.'

Hmmmmmm🤔

Dr. Shane O'Mara in book "Why Torture Doesn't Work:"
Sleep deprivation comes at cost of long-term structural remodeling of the brain.

Mitchell, who has been peddling his book from stand: There was a period of time people were monetizing ways to criticize the CIA EIT program.

"If walling isn't done correctly, it could cause injury." - Mitchell

Mohammad had several abrasions on his occipital.

Mitchell mentions stain on walling wall. He doesn't know if it was blood or not.

This is one reason why def having access to actual black sites is vital to an appropriate and vigorous def.

But MilComs approved black site destruction w/out telling def. miamiherald.com/news/nation-wo…

MilComs in 30 minute recess. Back around 15:50.

#MilComs called to order

This excerpt from #TheReport describes rectal rehydration as helping to "clear a person's head."

Mitchell thought it was a lie the first time he heard about it. "Sounds crazy to me."

A CIA physician would perform a cavity search on Mohammad before and after each transfer. Mitchell described the gruesome detail earlier today.

Nevin says forcing something into someone's rectum would constitute rape, no?

Objection - asked and answered.

Sustained.

Mitchell on Mohammad's anal rape cavity searches: "I had prostate cancer; it's a little bit invasive but this is a person who complained about a slice of bread... He had every opportunity to complain about it but he never complained about it once to me."

On waterboarding: Mohammad's gastric contents were so diluted by water that the medical officer present was "not concerned about regurgitated gastric acid damaging KSM's esophagus. The officer was concerned about water intoxication...#TheReport

Mitchell suspects Mohammad was a swimmer because he was so good at defeating the waterboarding technique.

"The preacher" would cup his hands around Mohammad's mouth in response.

Mitchell's testimony is so nauseating. So, so very nauseating.

"The preacher," a nickname given to one of the CIA interrogators by Mitchell, would splash water on Mohammad's chest before beginning the waterboarding session. Mitchell says he doesn't know what was going through The Preacher's head when he was doing it.

Mitchell clarifies that the description of the waterboard was applied over 80 times, almost half lasting 20-40 seconds - most were just a second or two.

Oh, that's much less troubling. Thanks for the clearing that up.

One physician reported "In essence, the experience with AZ and KSM had been little more than amateurish experiment, with no reason at the outset to believe it would either be safe or effective."

Mitchell sums up this opinion as just someone who didn't like waterboarding.

During Mohammad's 1st day at Loc Blue, Mitchell/Jessen first began threatening his children.

Mitchell says he met with CIA lawyer PJ1 who said if threat was of imminent harm, not legal. But if conditional, it was legal albeit unsavory. His description of threat is different...

Mitchell: "I said if there was another attack, and I find out that you had information that would have prevented it, and another US child is killed, then I would cut your son's throat. He killed 8 children in 9/11 attacks, who did nothing.

It is what it is."

Nevin: You know threatening to kill someone's children instills fear?

Mitchell: "I don't care!"

Mitchell's take on this 'religion' reference: My god doesn't expect me to take on a burden beyond my abilities. In fireside chats, detainees agreed.

So torture just a little bit, to get the ball rolling.

Waterboard semantics: Mitchell says one waterboarding session could have multiple pours but each pour is often described as one 'waterboard.'

Mitchell testifies Mohammad was 'very good' at handling this (waterboarding), and 'fairly relaxed.'

At one point, Mitchell found him asleep on the waterboard. 'He was tired, I'm sure he was tired.'

Perhaps because he was being sleep deprived at the same time? Just a thought...

Nevin offers another explanation - dissociation?

Mitchell: No, definitely not. Physician would have identified dissociation.

Mitchell says threats made to Mohammad's sons was new to him.

That's a wrap for today. Nevin has about half day left of examination. Harrington will follow.

Cheryl Bormann has some questions about some of the provided discovery on sleep deprivation. Needs clarification before she examines Mitchell.

Judge and gov will have brief ex parte to figure it out.

MilComs in recess until 0900 tomorrow.