Architect of Interrogation Program Testifies at Guantánamo Bay
Appearing for the first time at the military war court, James Mitchell was defiant, saying he was there for the benefit of the victims of the 9/11 attacks and their families.
By Carol Rosenberg
Jan. 21, 2020
Updated 2:24 p.m. ET
This article was produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.
GUANTÁNAMO BAY, Cuba — The architect of the C.I.A.’s Bush-era interrogation program, who personally waterboarded the man accused of masterminding the Sept. 11 attacks, testified for the first time to the war court at Guantánamo Bay on Tuesday, defiantly facing defendants who had been subject to his methods.
James E. Mitchell, a former contract psychologist for the intelligence agency who helped develop what the government euphemistically called “enhanced interrogation techniques,” appeared in court as a witness, confronting five men who had been subject to elements of his program of violence, sleep deprivation and humiliation. Among them was Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who is charged with leading the planning for the Sept. 11 attacks and was waterboarded 183 times by a team including Dr. Mitchell.
Dr. Mitchell opened what is expected to be two weeks of testimony by telling defense lawyers that the only reason he had come to Guantánamo was to testify in person in front of families of the 9/11 victims. He was appearing at a pretrial hearing for the five men facing charges in the 9/11 case. They are seeking to have the court throw out as evidence statements they made to the F.B.I. after coming to Guantánamo, saying that their interrogations in C.I.A. custody had conditioned them to tell their captors what they wanted to hear.
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