CNN uncritically reported disputed claim that Zubaydah interrogation led to Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
SUMMARY: CNN's Kelly Arena uncritically reported U.S. government officials' claim that the interrogation of Al Qaeda operative Abu Zubaydah and terrorism suspect Ramzi bin al-Shibh led to the capture of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. But Arena failed to note evidence indicating that the interrogation of Zubaydah and bin al-Shibh had little to no impact on Mohammed's capture.
During a "Security Watch" segment on the September 22 edition of CNN Newsroom, CNN justice correspondent Kelly Arena uncritically reported U.S. government officials' claim that information provided by Al Qaeda operative Abu Zubaydah during interrogation led to the capture of terrorism suspect Ramzi bin al-Shibh and that information obtained through interrogation of Zubaydah and bin al-Shibh led to the capture of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (KSM), the alleged mastermind of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Arena failed to note, however, that there is evidence indicating that the interrogation of Zubaydah and bin al-Shibh had little to no impact on KSM's capture.
Arena reported: "During questioning, officials say Zubaydah provided information that led to the capture of another Al Qaeda lieutenant, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, the intermediary from Yemen." As Media Matters for America documented, however, The New York Times reported on September 8 that the government "had identified Mr. bin al-Shibh's role in the attacks months before Mr. Zubaydah's capture." Also, investigative journalist Ron Suskind wrote in his recent book, The One Percent Doctrine: Deep Inside America's Pursuit of Its Enemies Since 9/11 (Simon & Schuster, June 2006) that information gleaned from Al Jazeera reporter Yosri Fouda and the emir of Qatar provided crucial leads regarding his location. In a September 6 interview with Salon.com, Suskind said that the emir -- not Zubaydah -- provided the "key break" that led the CIA to bin al-Shibh.
Notably, Arena's report featured comments by Fouda but did not mention reports of his key role in the capture of bin al-Shibh.
Arena went on to report: "U.S. officials say the combined information from Zubaydah and bin al-Shibh next led to the most significant terrorist captured so far. His name: Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the mastermind, known simply as KSM." CNN did not describe what information from Zubaydah purportedly led to KSM's capture. As Media Matters noted, President Bush said that Zubaydah disclosed that KSM "used the alias 'Mukhtar.' " However, the 9-11 Commission report noted that the government knew of KSM's alias before the 9-11 attacks. Suskind, in The One Percent Doctrine, documented how the CIA did not know KSM's location until a $25 million reward led an Al Qaeda operative -- not Zubaydah or bin al-Shibh -- to tip them off.
From the September 22 edition of CNN Newsroom:
ARENA: During questioning, officials say Zubaydah provided information that led to the capture of another Al Qaeda lieutenant, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, the intermediary from Yemen. Bin al-Shibh was a student in Hamburg, Germany, in 1998, where he became close friends with three of the 9-11 hijackers. Intelligence officials say the four young men traveled to Afghanistan in 1999, joined Al Qaeda, and pledged loyalty to Osama bin Laden.
PAT D'AMURO (former FBI assistant director): Bin al-Shibh was also supposed to be one of the 9-11 hijackers but could not get a passport into the United States.
FOUDA: This is why he ended up being the coordinator of the operation.
ARENA: U.S. officials say the combined information from Zubaydah and bin al-Shibh next led to the most significant terrorist captured so far. His name: Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the mastermind, known simply as KSM.
This is the kind of incorrect reporting that leads people to consider that torturing detainees might be necessary to keep our country safe, and of course the conservatives take that misleading information and run with it. I wish that the media could be truthful and objective, like they are supposed to be and like the public expects them to be. Kelly Arena once again demonstrates how CNN spews out misinformation that backs up the Bush Administration.
This item cites nicely, the type of stuff the administration was (and still is) ready to claim, about the "detainees" and the "interrogation" of them...
Had Senate Democrats taken the bait this week, and weighed in defending those "detainees" blindly (not knowing who they might be, and what they may have done to be "detainees") and opposing "interrogation" blindly (not knowing what that "interrogation" may have turned up)...
They'd have been sunk.
And if you say that the administration's claims about "detainees' and "interrogation" were and are bunk, you might be right...
But you couldn't prove it, because those "detainees" are the sole posession of the administration... they hold all the cards on this issue, and Senate Democrats did well this week not to take the bait, and rush blindly into being perceived as defending persons whose identities and whose suspected deeds (and the evidence that might support those suspicions) they can't possibly know.
Not this close to the election.
And get ready for the next great debate "bait" coming their way...
The FISA amendment and the wire-tap compromise.
And consider this: Nine months after the news had broke about the administration, and the NSA, circumventing the FISA Court, we still have a vast majority of the American People completely unaware of what the "72 hour provision" is... mostly unaware of what the function of the FISA Court is... and too few of the American People even know where that Court convenes, or who composes it.
And the point here is, that this close to the election, Senate Democrats confront the impossiblility of enlightening the American People on these matters (as again, the People have had nine months to comprehend this issue thoroughly, and have not done so), and for Senate Democrats to stand publicly opposed to the FISA amendment and the compromise, risks too greatly being seen (this close to the election) as opposing an "anti-terror tool".
And argue if you like, that Senate Democrats, presently in the minority, should oppose the compromise in the coming weeks...
But as the minority in that body, there is only so much they can do anyway; and among those things they can do as the minority, is sink their chances (this close to the election) at becoming the majority in that body...
By taking the bait that is being offered them, in a peculiarly well-timed fashion.
It is the majority that has power... it is better to go for that greater power, than to be sunk excercising a lesser one.
Have been a tool for misinformation for sometime now. The fact that this torture story has been given little coverage by the MSM while they report on John Mark Karr or E coli proves that the Rove strategy is taking effect. Hide the war , hide torture and hope and even make up stories that in effect cover up this administration and its criminal behavior.
CNN owes the American people an apology.