Who is Abu Zubaydah? Who are Mitchell and Jessen?

Abu Zubaydah is at the heart of the CIA torture tape scandal. We're told that the President personally witnessed tapes of his waterboarding -- even though the White House now officially denies that W knew of the existence of those tapes.

Some sources say that Zubaydah was a high-level Al Qaeda leader who helped to plan the 9/11 attacks; others say that he was a low-level operative and a major loon. A third theory holds that the torture drove him mad -- not at all unlikely, if you consider the potential for brain damage.

If you haven't seen it yet, check out this TPM investigation, based on this Washington Post story -- which provides the the penetrating analysis I have yet seen. TPM writer Paul Kiel traces the dichotomous view of the case to the ancient FBI/CIA split.

(To read the rest, click "Permalink" below)

Former CIA agent John Kiriakou confirmed the waterboarding (somewhat to the chagrin of the administration, or so we've been told) but defended it, claiming that Zubaydah began to spill the important beans only after the torture. Meanwhile,

Retired FBI agent Daniel Coleman, "who led an examination of documents after Abu Zubaida's capture in early 2002 and worked on the case," responded that Zubaydah was talking before he was waterboarded, but the CIA agents couldn't believe that he knew so little.

And:

Coleman says that Zubaydah was a "safehouse keeper" for Al Qaeda who had suffered a serious head injury years earlier.

Here's the part of the WP story that intrigued me most:

The videotaping of Abu Zubaida in 2002 went on day and night throughout his interrogation, including waterboarding, and while he was sleeping in his cell, intelligence officials said. "Several hundred hours" of videotapes were destroyed in November 2005, a senior intelligence officer said.

First, we have testimony that at least some of these tapes were seen in 2007.

Second, we have the contradiction between the White House's denial that Bush knew of the tapes and Larry Johnson's assertion that the president personally saw them.

It is possible to overthink an issue like this. That contradiction, if explored further by official channels, should be enough.

Meanwhile, let's review this Vanity Fair piece from last July, which gives us a behind-the-scenes look at what really happened. Meet two men who can tell us what Zubaydah really said:

Two psychologists in particular played a central role: James Elmer Mitchell, who was attached to the C.I.A. team that eventually arrived in Thailand, and his colleague Bruce Jessen. Neither served on the task force or are A.P.A. members. Both worked in a classified military training program known as sere—for Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape—which trains soldiers to endure captivity in enemy hands.

Mitchell and Jessen's military background -- they usually worked with the Special Forces -- suggests one "alternative route" by which copies of the tapes might have survived. No-one in the CIA could hope to destroy tapes in the DOD's possession.

Interrogators who were sent for classified training inevitably wound up in a Mitchell-Jessen "shop," and some balked at their methods. Instead of the careful training touted by President Bush, some recruits allegedly received on-the-job training during brutal interrogations that effectively unfolded as live demonstrations.

Mitchell and Jessen's methods were so controversial that, among colleagues, the reaction to their names alone became a litmus test of one's attitude toward coercion and human rights. Their critics called them the "Mormon mafia" (a reference to their shared religion) and the "poster boys" (referring to the F.B.I.'s "most wanted" posters, which are where some thought their activities would land them).

I think [Mitchell and Jessen] have caused more harm to American national security than they'll ever understand," says Kleinman.

The bitterest irony is that the tactics seem to have been adopted by interrogators throughout the U.S. military in part because of a myth that whipped across continents and jumped from the intelligence to the military communities: the false impression that reverse-engineered sere tactics were the only thing that got Abu Zubaydah to talk.

The article is both lengthy and fascinating. You'll be interested to know that Mitchell and Jessen have gone into private practice.

Mitchell's entry into private contracting began less than three months before September 11 with a scientific consulting company called Knowledge Works, L.L.C. He registered it in North Carolina with the help of another sere psychologist he'd worked with at Fort Bragg, Dr. John Chin. Since then, he has formed several similar companies, including the Wizard Shop (which he renamed Mind Science) and What If, L.L.C.

The Wizard Shop? What If? Those are names appropriate for a publisher of children's books.

In Spokane, several survival companies share space with Mitchell, Jessen & Associates.

Meanwhile, business appears to be booming at Mitchell, Jessen & Associates. It has 120 employees and specializes in "understanding, predicting, and improving performance in high-risk and extreme situations," according to a recruitment ad at a recent job fair for people with top security clearances.

The principals of Mitchell, Jessen & Associates are raking in money. According to people familiar with their compensation, they get paid more than $1,000 per day plus expenses, tax free, for their overseas work. It beats military pay. Mitchell has built his dream house in Florida. He also purchased a BMW through one of his companies. "Taxpayers are paying at least half a million dollars a year for these two knuckleheads to do voodoo," says one of the people familiar with their pay arrangements.

Protesters have showed up on their doorstep, and I'm fairly sure that more will arrive is the Zubaydah torture tape scandal continues to generate public interest. Mitchell and Jessen may become known to future generations as the heirs to Ewen Cameron.

Their company doesn't have a web site which the public can access. However, this site provides a description of their services:

Mitchell, Jessen, and Associates, LLC (MJA) is an executive consulting firm specializing in the area of understanding, predicting, and improving performance in high-risk and extreme situations. MJA develops specialized assessment and selection programs for high-risk occupations, devises and conducts tailored training for related, high-risk programs, and is additionally approved by the American Psychological Association to offer continuing professional education for psychologists.