Home » SOF News » NEWS: Bin Laden’s Driver Interrogation Video

NEWS: Bin Laden’s Driver Interrogation Video

by Jack Murphy · April 14, 2012 · Posted In: SOF News, Special Operations

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39 comments

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jrockfitch

1 Like

I just had flashbacks. Kind interrogation = the worst

Nhedmondson

To those who know better: it seems that, particularly in the first interrogation, the interviewer is just trying to wear the subject down by repeated, accusatory questioning--to constantly put him on the defensive. Am I reading that correctly? Or is the questioning just a bit clumsy?

JimGeorge

I can him get his story right: Pakistan Embassy , Afghanistan Kart-e-Parwar Kabul Afghanistan Phone: +93-20-2202745 +93-20-2202746 Fax: +93-20-2202871

MattFanning

I never knew he was from the same region as UBL's dad. Probably explains why he was trusted enough to transport manpad ammo.

LCpl X

1 Like

@MattFanning

http://i.imgur.com/DkLxG.jpg

MattFanning

1 Like

@LCpl X I read that one a long time ago. I keep meaning to find it and re-read it but that is where I got the info about where his dad's family was from. I had no idea about the Bin Laden business presence in Texas before I read that book.

LCpl X

@MattFanning

Or that the LA country courts was where they found the best approximation of UBL's financial worth.

But yeah, the Hadhramaut region is credited for bringing Islam to SE Asia, via trade. Very interesting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadhramaut#Hadhrami_diaspora

LCpl X

2 Like

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7RCgyCOmuo

In any good cop/bad cop routine, it's the good cop that gets to milk the information. Same with polygraph/polygrapher, same with the Reid technique, interviewee/interviewer w/ empathy (I totally understand where you're coming from). Different strokes for different folks, no talk you get the water treatment. Great video, love the standard Arabic, White boy accent, not Monterey but DC area fluency, grammar is spot on I've been told.

The face matches the photo in that "Oath" trailer, it's him.

vpi

1 Like

@LCpl X Yeah, I was impressed with his Arabic. It's amazing at what one can do once they learn some basic verbs and vocab. I bet he just learned the vocab and practiced, practiced, and practiced some more.

OPR

2 Like

@vpi His Arabic is actually pretty bad. It may be really great by DC standards, but it's pretty bad by all other standards. His grammar was also pretty bad.

And no, he didn't just learn vocab and practice. This guy probably has years and years of study under his belt. This guy's language skills already far exceed that of the vast majority of Arab world "experts" in DC think-tanks.

On a related note, the IDF has excellent (non-Arab) Arabic speakers.

jrexilius

1 Like

@LCpl X BTW, here are a few tidbits to chew on re: your question:

VMware source code re-stolen from chinese military contractor:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/04/10/ceiec_hits_back_at_hardcore_charlie/

http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2012/04/vmware-confirms-source-code-leak-lulzsec-affiliated-hacker-claims-credit.ars

backdoor in wifi router (german/taiwan manufacturer)

http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.heise.de%2Fnetze%2Fmeldung%2FWLAN-Hintertuer-in-Telekom-Routern-1558346.html

jrexilius

2 Like

@LCpl X My personal opinion, and it's little more than that, is that it would be silly to not assume that Huawei and many other mainland electronics manufacturers can and probably are, at times, embedding there own code or flaws. The supply line risk needs to be thought about. But this is pretty off topic discussion. Here is another facet to consider: http://defensetech.org/2012/03/28/gao-buys-fake-submarine-parts-from-china/

LCpl X

@jrexilius

You're our intel guy, you also have backgrounds in computer and telecomms, on top of all that you're also our Chinese guy here in SOFREP.

I was wondering what your take is on Huawei Global, US, in Africa, S. America, etc. etc. Online they've been billed as the Chinese NSA, is this all hype or

is Huawei really what everyone thinks it is, China's NSA around the world coverage?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFLf505vM1I

LCpl X

1 Like

@jrexilius

Great input on depth, man. The best kept secret in the military.

Go to DLI, kids, not only does it make you smart, it's free!

jrexilius

3 Like

@LCpl X hehehe.. yeah, at DLI you get a large group of teachers. Back in the stone ages when I went through I'm not sure how diverse the Arabic school was. But I can tell you that for at least Chinese there was a mix of regions and accents and you knew which teacher spoke which. I ended up (like I'm sure others did) adopting the tone and accent of my favorite teacher and ended up speaking with an middle-upper class Beijing academic's tone and pronunciation ("fa yin"). To this day my vocab may have gone to crap but I still favor "beijing hua" over others (taiwan, hunan, shanghai, etc.). I guess some people may have ended up mixing accents and dialects but I didn't. The difference I noticed between us from DLI and others from academia or other schools was that DLI tended to have depth. Call it better familiarity with accents and more able to employ dialects. I'm still pretty damn good at telling where someone is from in China when I hear them speak as well as generalizations like class and background.

ArcticWarrior

1 Like

@LCpl X @OPR

Yeah those Ruskies not only border the region but they spent 10 years raping the shit out of A'stan, not to mention how cozy they were with our good friends in Libya, Syria etc. Ours was limited to the guys who spent to much time at the Hayat Mall. Now we are the worlds experts in the region. Just took us some time.

LCpl X

1 Like

@OPR

I suppose it's all relative. For a country whose Near East diplomats go on Arabic TV speaking English, with faulty Arabic translation at the bottom of the screen, compared to say Russian diplomats who go on Arabic TV speaking spotless Arabic, give the guy a break.

I did wonder how one could tell Monterey vs. DC proficiency, and was told DLI or Middlebury trained linguists are train by a team of teachers, so it's very easy to spot them mix regional words or accents, this person on video has only one college level type speech, indicative of one or two person tutoring him.

I hope our resident DLI grad, jrexilius, can over his thoughts on this.

ArcticWarrior

2 Like

@OPR @vpi

Yeah its like he needs to think grammantically as he is speaking. But we need to cut them slack, its early on in the 1st quarter and we probably were doing the best we could on really short notice in Central Asia, I thought he asked him if he would like a plumber at one point. Think about all the dialects those guys encountered, local, Chechen, Saudi, Pushtan, Tajik, Dari, these guys did a great job early on all things considered

Old PH2

@LCpl X I also use predictive analysis of recorded incidents to help gauge current workforce trends. It helps me to measure stress levels and past reactions to changes in environment.

ArcticWarrior

3 Like

@Old PH2 @LCpl X

This is where you and our partner have to be in sync. Sometimes you need to be bad guy, sometimes you get the "feel" what your doing isnt working and let your partner cut in. You may get this tough looking gang banger type and he's all tough guy but when you talk to him you realize quickly being the "nice" guy works better, other times you get the ones who look all CPA and they are the ones that give you the hard time. I liked this video, kind of surprising. And yeah good call on the Univ of Riyadh inflection

Old PH2

1 Like

@LCpl X Very insightful, I regularly use the Reid technique on client workforces. Many times we can gauge the feelings of the work force through anonymous polling. To get specific information it requires face time with the individual employees. Within the manufacturing sector HR types are beginning to understand the value of intel gathering.

LCpl X

1 Like

@Old PH2

HR types using the Reid technique, reminds me of this scene:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pl_3xQBPLk

enabler

Think about the time and AO, with a NAI like that to be TQ'd in a compound. Again.. Really!?!?

JackMurphyRGR moderator

@enabler Time: 2001 Place: Afghanistan NAI: ...probably also Afghanistan since so little intel was coming out of there prior to the war kicking off. Where would you TQ him before shipping his happy ass off to BAF? Then again, this could have been at Bagram in some of those run down outbuildings or barracks for all we know.

BoxOfGridSquares

4 Like

Interesting video. The interrogator was very good in his demands for specifics to counter their poorly constructed cover. Once he had a base to work with his clever use of using the exact same specific information told to him but switching it around to get confirmation that the lie he just said was correct by the individuals.

Obviously just the beginning to gauge their resistance and how well they were trained or in this case not trained especially the second guy who once he realized he was caught because of the specifics he gave prior stopped giving them. Surprised something like this would be released publicly.

Glad I got to watch it. Very interesting.

enabler

Watch the dude pulling security in the rear. The high ready with your finger in and out of the trigger well. Really?

JackMurphyRGR moderator

4 Like

@enabler I don't think he was one of ours. I've never seen American soldiers standing around at port arms before...much less in a ski mask.

Tango9

2 Like

@JackMurphyRGR You can tell he's not American just by his body language. It may sound funny, but nonetheless.

ArcticWarrior

@Tango9 @JackMurphyRGR

No your right, Im thinking Saudi or someone Arabian

Burton

2 Like

I read Eric Greitens' book, The Heart and the Fist, and he talked about how most of these people would sell out their own family for cash. Even moreso, if just offered kindness instead of the brutality they're used to, he indicated that a lot of them would spill their guts. I don't have any experience in such matters, but I did think it was interesting.

One comment he did make is that one of the problems with torture is that you have a habit of getting the answer you wanted to hear, regardless of whether it's true or not, which is similar to confirmation bias from the scientific community.

BrandonWebb moderator

4 Like

I'm with you Jack. It's been my experience that you need leverage (think black mail or sick relatives who need US healthcare) or lots of money....the mighty dollar works magic. Let me tell you $1.5M in cash is a ball buster to carry. ;)

Brandon

Mitra

1 Like

Nice Jack! I'm happy that you guys read my message with this video. I wanted to send it to you guys first so it could be validated.

JackMurphyRGR moderator

2 Like

@Mitra Thanks for passing it along, we'll see what we can find out about it...

Mitra

2 Like

@JackMurphyRGR No prob. SOFREP is the place to have this stuff authenticated.

ArcticWarrior

1 Like

Damn Jack good work on that video. How did that video make the light of day?

Lol..."theres nothing wrong with money" universal language

Mitra

1 Like

@ArcticWarrior Haha that line made me laugh also.

ArcticWarrior

1 Like

@Mitra

Im still watching it. Dude does not seem scared and is kind of chatty

ArcticWarrior

1 Like

@Mitra

Yeah I saw heard that its a nice game they play, not what I expected for a guy who was the Sheiks driver or his interrogators.

Mitra

2 Like

@ArcticWarrior I noticed that both men interrogated were chatty. Also they both say that they work for a "relief agency" maybe some kind of cover story they use.

NEWS: Bin Laden’s Driver Interrogation Video

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