2010-08-18 09:33

Still, current and former officials say no harsh interrogation methods, like the simulated drowning tactic called waterboarding, were used in Morocco. In the CIA's secret network of undisclosed "black prisons," Morocco was described as a way station to hold detainees for a few months at a time.

"The tapes record a guy sitting in a room just answering questions," according to a US official familiar with the program. "They don't show any harsh treatment."

That would make them quite different from the 92 interrogation videos of Zubaydah and al-Nashiri being subjected to waterboarding and other harsh interrogation tactics.

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The tapes provide just a snapshot of Binalshibh's journey through CIA black prisons. He was bounced from one undisclosed facility to the next and his story, if it ever comes out at trial, could reveal new details about the CIA prison network. Defense attorneys have described this journey as "a blot on this nation's character."

Intelligence officials maintain the tough tactics saved many lives.

CIA spokesman George Little said: "While we continue to cooperate with inquiries into past counterterrorism practices, the CIA's focus now is exactly where it should be: protecting the American people now and into the future."

Binalshibh belonged to the al-Qaida cell in Hamburg, Germany, that hatched the 9/11 plot. He roomed with Mohammed Atta, who piloted American Airlines Flight 11 into the World Trade Center. Binalshibh tried repeatedly to get a US visa but never succeeded.

The CIA swept him up exactly one year later in Karachi, Pakistan. He was captured with other members of al-Qaida and the young sons of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who one former official said had been placed in Binalshibh's care.

Almost immediately, two former CIA officials said, Binalshibh exhibited traces of mental instability that would worsen over time. But others suggest his prolonged detention contributed to that deterioration.

Binalshibh's first stop after his capture was Afghanistan. Shackled and hooded, he was flown on a military plane with a joint CIA-FBI team from Karachi to Bagram. At a spartan CIA facility not far from Bagram, he was manacled to the ceiling and subjected to blaring hard rock music around the clock, according to FBI documents.

When FBI agents finally had a chance to interview Binalshibh, they found him lethargic but physically unharmed. He projected an attitude suggesting he was unconcerned he had been caught.

Before the FBI made any real headway, the CIA flew Binalshibh on Sept. 17, 2002, to Morocco on a Gulfstream jet, according to flight records and interviews.

Current and former officials said this was the period when Binalshibh was taped. His revelations remain classified but the recordings, the officials said, made no mention of the 9/11 plot. It's unclear who made the tapes or how they got to the agency's Langley, Va., headquarters.

In March 2003, Binalshibh was moved to a Polish facility code-named Quartz soon after his mentor, Mohammed, was nabbed in Pakistan. The CIA intentionally paraded Binalshibh past Mohammed. With the two in the same facility, interrogators could quickly check out their stories.

Considered uncooperative by his captors, Binalshibh was put on a liquid diet and subjected to a series of enhanced interrogation techniques, former CIA officials said.

The CIA officials discussed waterboarding him but decided against it. Mohammed endured the harsh technique scores of times.

Binalshibh's interviews became the foundation for parts of the 9/11 commission report, and he provided intelligence about a plot to crash aircraft into London's Heathrow Airport and Canary Wharf, the city's financial center, an official said. The commission report described him and two other men as "key plot facilitators."

With his intelligence value plumbed, Binalshibh was moved with al-Nashiri back to Rabat on June 6, 2003. In September 2003, Binalshibh and at least three other high-value terrorists were secretly flown to the Guantanamo Bay detention camp to prepare for a possible military trial. But they were all taken back to Morocco that spring before the US Supreme Court could grant them access to lawyers.

Back in Rabat, one former official said, Binalshibh put on weight eating the country's carbohydrate-heavy cuisine of couscous and chicken tagine.

From there it was on to Bucharest, Romania, in fall 2004. The facility consisted of six cells, each with a clock and arrow pointing to Mecca. Five other detainees were also housed there, including Mohammed and al-Nashiri.

Binalshibh didn't surface publicly until September 2006, when President George W. Bush announced that he and 13 other top terrorist detainees were being transferred to Guantanamo. The move came after the last remaining secret sites in Romania and Lithuania were closed.

Since his move to Guantanamo, Binalshibh has appeared increasingly erratic. Court records say he has broken cameras in his cell and smeared them with feces.

He has experienced delusions, complaining the CIA was intentionally shaking his bed and cell, according to court records and interviews. He imagined tingling sensations, suspecting things were crawling all over him, and developed a nervous tic, obsessively scratching himself.

Nine years after his capture, there is no indication when Binalshibh and other admitted 9/11 terrorists will face military or civilian trials.

While the tapes could have a bearing on any trial in the future, Binalshibh and other accused 9/11 conspirators have openly admitted their roles, praising the attacks.

Binalshibh and the others have asked to plead guilty, a move that would head off any trial and almost certainly guarantee the videotapes never get played in any court.