# Al-Qaeda training manual interrogation-resistance tactics > **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou. > > Cite as: "Al-Qaeda training manual interrogation-resistance tactics," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/al-qaeda-training-manual-interrogation-tactics/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *A captured al-Qaeda training manual instructing operatives on how to resist interrogation, including feigning illness — a technique John Kiriakou says he saw a detainee use, and recognized, during a capture and interrogation in Pakistan.* - **Document:** Captured original copy of the al-Qaeda training manual - **Technique No. 1 (per Kiriakou):** Feign severe stomach pain and fall off the chair The **al-Qaeda training manual** captured by U.S. forces includes a section on resisting interrogation. [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/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] ## 'I read the training manual' Retelling the episode in May 2026, Kiriakou supplied the exchange itself. He asked the man's name; the man doubled over in what he presented as agony and went off the chair — *"he fell off the chair with his hand still chained to the table."* Kiriakou stayed in his own seat and waited. *"He opens one eye and looks up to me. And I said, 'I read the training manual. Get back in the chair.'"*[4] The name sequence followed. *"He's like, 'Mohammed Abdallah.' I said, 'Eh, try again. What's your name?'"* A second false name produced a warning — *"you're going to really piss me off if you give me a third fake name"* — and then the real one.[5] The remaining repertoire was exhausted in front of him. *"He pretended to faint. He did the whole stomach thing. He pretended that he was going to throw up. And I just kind of sat there looking at him like, 'Are you done? I read the training manual.'"*[5] ## 'I'm going to send you to Jerusalem' What broke the detainee, on Kiriakou's account, was not a threat he made but a threat the man made for him. Kiriakou offered the choice plainly — *"I'm the good cop in this. We can either have a conversation like two grown men, or we're going to send you someplace that you're not going to like."*[6] The detainee named the place himself: *"I'm not afraid of Guantanamo."* Kiriakou's reply took the opening. *"Guantanamo? I never said I was going to send you to Guantanamo. I'm going to send you to Jerusalem."*[6] He is explicit that the destination was never real, and equally explicit about what the real ones were: *"of course, I would never send him to Jerusalem. We don't do that. We send them to way worse places than Jerusalem."* The man then *"just started talking. And he gave us everything."* He went to Guantánamo afterwards; Kiriakou does not know what became of him. *"He's probably still there."*[7] ## Knowing the answers first Kiriakou frames the whole episode as an illustration of the rule he was trained on rather than of any talent for reading people. Body-language tells matter — looking down or up before answering, fidgeting, crossed arms as a sign of nervousness and defensiveness, though he notes he crosses his own arms *"cuz I just like the way it feels"* — but they are the obvious part.[8][9] The way past them is preparation: *"what we were trained to do was to go into these interviews already knowing the answers to all of our questions"* — a basic police-detective tactic. In this case he knew who the man was, whom he had been meeting in the country he had come from, and that he was mid-to-high-level al-Qaeda with *"literally, American blood on his hands."* His summary: *"body language is a big deal, but you've got to know the answers to your questions before you even go into the meeting."*[10][11][12] He adds a note on vocabulary. *"Interrogation is the word that the FBI uses. The CIA doesn't interrogate, it interviews or debriefs."* His own view of the distinction: *"don't pay any attention to that. That's just CIA silliness."*[9] ## See also - [Jordanian al-Qaeda detainee](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/jordanian-al-qaeda-detainee) - [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) ## Sources 1. Former Spy Reveals the Brutal Survival Rules Inside the (2026-05-20), at 15:13. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf8xsrnBBs0&t=913s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-20-covert-operations-insight/ 2. Former Spy Reveals the Brutal Survival Rules Inside the (2026-05-20), at 14:42. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf8xsrnBBs0&t=882s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-20-covert-operations-insight/ 3. Former Spy Reveals the Brutal Survival Rules Inside the (2026-05-20), at 16:13. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf8xsrnBBs0&t=973s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-20-covert-operations-insight/ 4. John Kiriakou Podcast (2026-05-28), at 15:34. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzSIp9kONVA&t=934s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-28-john-kiriakou-podcast-john-kiriakou-podcast/ 5. John Kiriakou Podcast (2026-05-28), at 16:05. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzSIp9kONVA&t=965s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-28-john-kiriakou-podcast-john-kiriakou-podcast/ 6. John Kiriakou Podcast (2026-05-28), at 16:37. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzSIp9kONVA&t=997s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-28-john-kiriakou-podcast-john-kiriakou-podcast/ 7. John Kiriakou Podcast (2026-05-28), at 17:08. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzSIp9kONVA&t=1028s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-28-john-kiriakou-podcast-john-kiriakou-podcast/ 8. John Kiriakou Podcast (2026-05-28), at 12:57. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzSIp9kONVA&t=777s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-28-john-kiriakou-podcast-john-kiriakou-podcast/ 9. John Kiriakou Podcast (2026-05-28), at 13:29. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzSIp9kONVA&t=809s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-28-john-kiriakou-podcast-john-kiriakou-podcast/ 10. John Kiriakou Podcast (2026-05-28), at 14:02. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzSIp9kONVA&t=842s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-28-john-kiriakou-podcast-john-kiriakou-podcast/ 11. John Kiriakou Podcast (2026-05-28), at 15:03. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzSIp9kONVA&t=903s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-28-john-kiriakou-podcast-john-kiriakou-podcast/ 12. John Kiriakou Podcast (2026-05-28), at 17:40. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzSIp9kONVA&t=1060s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-28-john-kiriakou-podcast-john-kiriakou-podcast/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/al-qaeda-training-manual-interrogation-tactics/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt