The first prisoner who cooperated
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The first prisoner who cooperated is John Kiriakou's account of the first man he interviewed in Pakistan who agreed to answer him, and of what that produced.

The role, and the room

Kiriakou describes his own function in the interviews in one phrase: "I was always the good cop at the CIA." Because his Arabic was excellent, he sat down with captured prisoners first and began interviewing them, and more often than not, he says, they did not want a conversation.

The setting he describes is bare rather than brutal. None of the rooms were nice. There was a table with an eyebolt set into it so that the prisoner could be chained to it. Asked whether the metal table was cold, he draws a line between his own rooms and what followed elsewhere: "no, that came later", in the secret sites.

His opening was fixed: "may peace be upon you, will you cooperate with us?" Sometimes the answer was yes; usually it was no. Either way he pressed a little.

The answer

Asked in what spirit the men who agreed said yes, with pride, desperation or resignation, Kiriakou answers resignation, and then gives the first instance.

"I said really? And he said yes. And I said, why would you cooperate with me? And he looks at me and he says: because I'm your prisoner. I get nothing out of not cooperating." Kiriakou's reply was "good answer."

What it produced

The man did cooperate, and Kiriakou is specific about the product. Maps of the border area were laid out in front of him and he described foot by foot how he had crossed the mountains through the passes from Afghanistan into Pakistan. He identified the locations of the safe houses al-Qaeda was using, both along the border on the Pakistani side and in the cities, houses that were then raided, producing further prisoners.

Kiriakou generalises the outcome without overstating it: the ones who said yes and cooperated "gave us great stuff." The ones who said no went to Guantanamo, or, if they were important, to a secret site.

See also

- Enhanced interrogation techniques
- Prisoner Disposition From Pakistan
- Pakistan Station (2002)
- Abu Zubaydah
- Guantanamo Bay
