The al-Qaeda training manual captured by U.S. forces includes a section on resisting interrogation. John Kiriakou says its first listed technique is to feign severe stomach pain and fall off the chair — a tactic he recognized in real time because he had read the manual himself.[1]
The capture
Kiriakou recounts personally capturing a mid-to-high-level al-Qaeda operative in Pakistan after the man bought a one-way plane ticket to Pakistan using his own credit card and his own true name — an operational-security lapse that let six officers wait for him at the airport.[2]
The interrogation
Handcuffed to an eye bolt screwed into the interrogation table, the detainee doubled over and feigned severe stomach pain — the manual’s technique number one. Kiriakou, having read the same manual, told him to get back in the chair; the man tried several more resistance tactics, including pretending to faint and pretending he was about to vomit.[1] Asked his name, the detainee gave two false names before Kiriakou warned him that a third lie would anger him; he then gave his real name.[3]