Military

NEWS: Bin Laden’s Driver Interrogation Video

I’m still working on getting a 100% verification on the authenticity of this video but here it is for SOFREP readers.  The video purports to show the interrogation of OBL’s driver, Salim Hamdan, a Yemeni national who was captured very early on in the war in November of 2001.  He was subsequently released and sent back to his family in Yemen as the courts determined that he could not be tried as an enemy combatant despite the weapons found in the trunk of the car he was driving.  In this case, the best they could get him for was providing material support for terrorists.

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The scuttlebutt on the internet is that this is proof that America doesn’t use torture as an interrogation technique.  Personally, I don’t think a single video of one single interrogation really proves anything one way or the other regarding broad, long-term policies but take it for what it’s worth.  I will say that in my experience, the carrot works a hell of a lot better than the stick.  You can tell from the video that OBL’s driver is ready to talk as he didn’t need much prompting from the interrogators.

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I’m still working on getting a 100% verification on the authenticity of this video but here it is for SOFREP readers.  The video purports to show the interrogation of OBL’s driver, Salim Hamdan, a Yemeni national who was captured very early on in the war in November of 2001.  He was subsequently released and sent back to his family in Yemen as the courts determined that he could not be tried as an enemy combatant despite the weapons found in the trunk of the car he was driving.  In this case, the best they could get him for was providing material support for terrorists.

%EMBED2%

The scuttlebutt on the internet is that this is proof that America doesn’t use torture as an interrogation technique.  Personally, I don’t think a single video of one single interrogation really proves anything one way or the other regarding broad, long-term policies but take it for what it’s worth.  I will say that in my experience, the carrot works a hell of a lot better than the stick.  You can tell from the video that OBL’s driver is ready to talk as he didn’t need much prompting from the interrogators.

About Jack Murphy View All Posts

Jack served as a Sniper and Team Leader in 3rd Ranger Battalion and as a Senior Weapons Sergeant on a Military Free Fall team in 5th Special Forces Group. Having left the military in 2010, he graduated from Columbia with a BA in political science. Murphy is the author of Reflexive Fire, Target Deck, Direct Action, and Gray Matter Splatter. His memoir, "Murphy's Law" is due for a 2019 release and can be pre-ordered now.

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