The Interrogators: Task Force 500 and America's Secret War Against Al Qaeda

by Chris Mackey, Greg Miller

More than 3,000 prisoners in the war on terrorism have been captured, held, and interrogated in Afghanistan alone. But no one knows what transpired in those interactions between prisoner and interrogator -- until now.

In The Interrogators , Chris Mackey, the senior interrogator at Bagram Air Base and in Kandahar, where al-Qaeda and Taliban prisoners were first detained and questioned, lifts the curtain. Soldiers specially trained in the art of interrogation went face-to-face with the enemy. These mental and psychological battles were as grueling, dramatic, and important as any in the war on terrorism. We learn how, under Mackey's command, his small group of "soldier spies" engineered a breakthrough in interrogation strategy, rewriting techniques and tactics grounded in the Cold War.

Mackey reveals the tricks of the trade, and we see how his team -- four men and one woman -- responded to the pressure and the prisoners. By the time Mackey's group was finished, virtually no prisoner went unbroken.

Genres: Military Fiction, Nonfiction, War, History, Military History, Politics, Terrorism

528 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Terri · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a little befuddled as to why other Goodreads members have been negative about this book. I wondered if they had even read it, to be honest. I did not find Chris Mackey to be boastful or full of his own self importance. I'm not going to say that in real life he isn't, I don't know him, so cannot say, but in this book he is humble, never boastful and readily up for criticising himself whenever he does things wrong or when he thinks he's out of his depth. He doubts himself and always seems to want to improve his technique.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Interrogators and got quite a lot out of it. I liked the humour, and the marines in the dark near the pit urinal was a moment of considerable mirth for me. I like humour mixed into my books and I felt Mackey hit the right amount in this book. Fitzgerald was fun to read about and I felt bad for him when he went to Bagram and lost his comic offsiders.
What I found most interesting, was the evolution of the guys profiled. When they first came to Kandahar they seemed aimless and unsure of what they should do, uncertain how to best deal with this islamic culture. That cultural misstep has most likely come about because their training had them dealing more in Russians or Europeans, than Arabs. But by the end I had seen them evolve into highly competent 'gators. Of course, this is subjective, and you only get what you are given through the words of Chris Mackey and the guy who put this book together for him.
All in all, this was most assuredly a 5 star book for me. Maybe it's length had it nudging 4 star, but that is likely not the writer's fault and more mine because I had other books I needed to get to in a hurry and my mind was wandering in the last third.

[James Winter · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't necessarily have any problems with Mackey's writing style, which is mostly vivid, detailed, and moves nicely from page to page. My problem is with the book's intent. Is this a memoir? An inside look at our war with Al-Qaeda (as the cover promises)? A propaganda tool? A serious examination of interrogation techniques?

I don't think the book knows exactly. Although Mackey is chronicling his experience as an army interrogator, he himself as narrator doesn't do much critical reflection regarding his experience. Most of the interrogators, and therefore their interrogations, come off in this book as rather bumbling. They are good, honest people, none of whom seem to want to be in Afghanistan very much and who interrogate mostly low-level Afghans and Arabs with tenuous, if any, connections to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. They don't necessarily break anything of any real intelligence value. In fact, at one point in the book, Mackey details his buddy Fitz's "breaking" of an Al-Qaeda chemical warfare ring/plan via ricin (hey, "Breaking Bad!"). Then, Mackey tells us that in an email from Fitz before the publication of the book, Fitz says, "None of that ever happened. No chemical warfare. No ricin. I don't know where you're getting that." Whhhaaaaattt?

In the beginning of the book, Mackey repeats the company line that torture does not net good intelligence, that prisoners will say anything to make the pain stop. At the end of the book as he examines his feelings about the abuses in Gitmo and Abu Ghraib, he goes, "Well, if they'll say anything to get the pain to stop, they'll probably start with the truth. So, torture does work, but we can't torture because it is immoral." Whhhhaaaattt?

Mackey also tells prisoners he has great respect for Islam and then in private shakes his head, going, "What a religion." Then, when prisoners tell him he doesn't even know enough about his own religion, he goes to another interrogator to ask him if this is really true, with questions about his own Christianity. It's entirely obvious that he doesn't know enough of his own religion. But this isn't really a problem for him, I guess. And then he proceeds to all but make fun of a mentally disabled prisoner. Whhhhaaattt?

I guess I came away from this book glad to know that our initial interrogators were undertrained, reluctant actors in the War on Terror who, according to Mackey, had little to no knowledge of the cultures or people they were interrogating. And whenever they did eek out some good intelligence, either the CIA would snatch up the prisoners or they'd be shipped off to Gitmo, which he paints as a dumping ground for suspected terrorists. Like, "We don't know what else to do with this guy and releasing him will make us look bad. So, send him to Gitmo."

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting account of Mackey's experience being an army interrogator after 9/11.
What I mostly enjoyed was reading about interrogation techniques, I'm definitely going to read the Kubark Manual. (Alice: it's online, for free!)

A phrase that stuck with me is " a person's body is likely to be the physical image of his mental tension".

I think it's lenght made me rate it with 3 stars, I dont mind reading long books as long as it's a "page turner" but This one just didn't have me like that (unlike others). Still, it was pretty amusing.

[Paul Kobos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Conflicted review. Very thought provoking insider view read. But I know how they acquired some of the detainees. Dragnets scooping up every male 13 and up. That's how they made it to Chris Mackey. Let's be generous and say 90% of the detainees were "terrorist" 10% were not. And mr mackeys just another day at the office routine of incarcerating, lying and holding valued assets in cages, looks more like terrorism than freedom at work. His honesty about not giving a shit about prisoners made the book readable. If he had said one time he truely felt for these men's plight id have called him a liar and thrown the damn book across the room.but the book was engaging I totally learned how they find, imprison, and acquire the information that makes its way up the chain. So it's not the book or the writer I detest it's the world in which this May be deemed necessary.

[Bruce Lyman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written and a helpful contribution to the public's perception that intelligence operations really do operate according to a set of rules - and those are especially critical in the HUMINT world when dealing face to face with potential or actual enemy. Despite that, there is something vaguely unsettling about the work which proves more a sanitised journal of the author's work in Afghanistan rather than an expose of what is actually done. But then that is one of the rules - "Don't tell' or we will lock you away for a million years. Good read, but not with the substance it promises.

[Orion · Rating 1 out of 5]

So boring I had to fight just to finish it. Would have been a good story, but seemed that the author was too worried about looking bad, to really tell it. Im not talking about divulging anything classified. Just seemed that after all the media hype about mistreating prisoners, he was tip toeing around what happened. Tried way too hard to come off as the clean choir boy. I appreciate his wanting to tell his story, but there didn't seem he really had anything to tell. And god knows he didn't need 400+ pgs to do it!

[Gordon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not bad, but the author is obviously very full of himself. Pretty amusing at times, listening to him bluster on about just what a master in the booth he is, but for those with little to no knowledge about "booth operations", it's worth a quick skim.

[Waqar Ahmed · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Interrogators War by Miller and Mackey is an honest but tedious account of the American war on terror. The book is divided into four parts and reads on a slow pace. The author paints a realistic picture of the role of interrogators in the war in Afghanistan. The job of the interrogation team was to try and extract any small or big detail from the captured afghans. According to the author several suspects brought for interrogation were totally innocent. The author says that the US Army did some major wrongs in Iraq and cites the Abu Gharib prison incident as an example of how they managed to increase hatred among the local population towards the occupation force. There are some interesting bits about the various interrogation techniques used by the interrogators on the suspected terrorists. Overall a forthright account of America's war in Afghanistan and the shortfalls that need to be overcome for the country to gain the confidence of the locals and show some gains in the increasingly failed state of Afghanistan.

[Audrey E · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Interrogators gives valuable insight regarding the lack of preparedness and general knowledge of the American army about the historical, cultural, and political context of Afghanistan, both prior to and after the invasion. The author is decidedly pro American interventionism in Afghanistan and Iraq, and thus is willing to rationalize and defend actions of the American army that range from careless mistakes to Geneva Convention-defying torture. The Interrogators should be read alongside opposing narratives of the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, enhanced interrogation techniques in Guantanamo and American blacksites around the world, and the overarching "war on terror" in order to nuance Mackey's views, many of which are essentially presented as fact. Although the book was interesting, it is a one dimensional narrative that makes one wonder if the US government and army will ever learn from its mistakes.

[Elleigh · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is based on an American interrogator's experiences in Afghanistan. I thought the narrative might be more interesting than it was, but instead I found it quite disturbing. The attitudes expressed left me uncomfortable, and my general misgivings of the incompetence of the US military system appeared to be confirmed.

[Jim Garrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was quite interesting. The writer seems very honest and open about their opinions about military leaders as well as the craziness of the methods that some within the government thought would work. I would recommend this book to anyone involved in interrogation and interviewing. Understanding what works and what doesn't is important.

[Aubrey Braddock · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read. I felt the author was arrogant and preachy, but an interesting read none the less.

[Emily Kaminsky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Could have done without the last ~150 pages.

[Ice · Rating 5 out of 5]

This fascinating memoir reports from one of the most crucial and controversial fronts in the war on terror. The pseudonymous Mackey was an interrogator at military prisons in Afghanistan, tasked with sussing out the secrets of suspected Taliban and al-Qaeda members. He and journalist Miller take readers inside the prison cells and interrogation rooms, where interrogators choreograph elaborate mind games and fight epic battles of will with their often formidable captives. Their account's full of the engrossing lore and procedure of interrogation, the thrust and parry of baited queries and cagey half-truths, and the occasional dramatic breakthrough when a prisoner cracks. But it also reveals the squalor and drudgery of the prison camps, the exhaustion, bad temper and frequent ineptitude of the interrogators and the many lapses in the American intelligence effort, especially by the CIA, which Mackey regards as an arrogant, secretive and incompetent organization.

Mackey deplores the Abu Ghraib abuses and insists that his unit never violated the Geneva Conventions. They flirted, he acknowledges, with stress positions and sleep deprivation, but this was nothing, he claims, beyond what army recruits and the interrogators themselves routinely endured; their main weapons seem to have been veiled threats to return Arab prisoners to their homelands, where they would face real torture. The book, which was vetted by the Pentagon, will not settle the questions surrounding American treatment of prisoners in Iraq and elsewhere. But it does give a vivid, gritty look at the pressures and compromises attendant on this unconventional war.

[Tucker · Rating 3 out of 5]

A long story of interrogation in Afghanistan from the point of view of a U.S. interrogator. This focuses on the rules of the day-to-day job and doesn't have much political or ethical analysis. There is some good information about body language that indicates that someone is lying.

“You could tell the prisoner something like: ‘Do you know how many of your own people were killed at the end of World War II when the German prisons opened?’ But you couldn’t take that extra step and say, ‘If we send you back, you know they’re going to kill you.’ It was a thin line.” (p. 33)

What happened soon after in Iraq was worse, he says:

"To me, one of the most interesting document to surface amid the Abu Ghraib investigations is a one-page sheet outlining the ‘interrogation rules of engagement’ in effect at the prison at the time of the abuses. … Each of these [nine additional] methods went well beyond anything we allowed at Bagram, where we were not technically bound by the Geneva Conventions (because of the Bush administration’s ruling that our prisoners were ‘unlawful combatants’) but understood from the beginning that [we] were to behave as if we were. We had agonized over how far we could go….[Abu Ghraib] made all of our hand-wringing seem either silly or, in retrospect, unintentionally enlightened." (pp. 470-471)

[Nathan Sherman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an incredible inside account of the role that the Army's interrogators, MOS: 35(M) play in the war on terror. Told from the perspective of the enlisted side of the job, (most notably the hardest working side too) these individuals train to legally extract valuable information from suspected terrorist subjects in an effort to proliferate it to intelligence agencies. Though not combat oriented in the trigger-pulling sense, the stress levels shown throughout these pages seems nearly equal with that of any SOF operator. The book reads like a spy novel told from a 1st person account of the events at a remote forward operating base and the trials of being at what seems like the lowest end of the intel totem pole in a sea of government red tape. Most interestingly, the techniques of how to actually go about interrogating someone are listed in the index and are quite fascinating, so much so that I went as far as to purchase the Army Interrogation Handbook to further my knowledge on the subject from the horse's mouth. The book is hard to put down and regardless of a lack of explosions and gunfights, reads like a Navy Seal thriller.

[Andrea Luhman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It is hard for me to look at it objectively since I felt a kind of kinship to the author. His complaints and problems while they may not have matched my experience, they were so very similar. There were jokes or situations described I think most soldiers who have worked in the Intel field will laugh at, especially if you ever spent any time in a reserve/guard unit.
I love how this book captures the pain of being one of the first units on the ground doing work that places you in a fishbowl. How the whole intelligence community was waiting for what they found, and they couldn’t type those reports fast enough. It was great how the book captures the stress and grueling battle rhythm these soldiers were in, even though they were relatively safe never leaving a base.
It’s a great honest look at the time it takes to conduct “real” interrogations and not the nonsense portrayed in the movies and on television. A book I think every intelligence soldier should read, and enjoy.

[Gary · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book showed me a lot about how human intelligence is done on the ground level, something I have not had much experience with in the past. I was continually impressed by the adaptability and innovativeness of the intterrogators portrayed in the book in order to try to tease some useful bit of information out of prisoners in Afghanistan while remaining on the right side of rules and conventions governing prisoners' treatment. In the end, I wonder what the motive of the author was in writing this book - seems to me that disclosing so much about how U.S. interrogation operations are conducted is probably not the best idea. At the same time, I realize this book is far from the only source on these activities available to anyone who knows what they are looking for. I had the Marines in my unit read the book with me and we had some good discussions about various aspects of the book over several months.

[Laura Hughes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting expose of the initial months of the War on Terror told on the front lines not by soldiers or political historians but by individuals delivering the intel. This took place before the atrocities at Abu Ghraib and GTMO and provides a gritty detailed day-in-the-life of an interrogator. For anyone wanting another POV on the reality of the post-9/11 "war" this was an excellent and easy read.

[Alexandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up at the dollar store thinking it looked interesting. Actually it was really quite good.

[Donald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative. Great stories and our guys doing good work around the world. This is a good picture of how this type of work is really done.

[Lucas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like Shooter it made me want to join the fight in Iraq.

[Bryan Kirby · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not too impressed, had to read for a college course

[Brandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

An excellent view into interrogation techniques and how military intelligence is collected. Entertaining as well as informative.

[Jon Holdaway · Rating 5 out of 5]

Abu Ghraib was an abberation. Gitmo is a policy nightmare. This story is the real deal. Real interrogators working in a difficult environment, getting the mission done.

[Eric]

This is an interesting account of "Chris Mackey's" tour as an enlisted Army interrogator. Great human interest story, but definately not a reference on HUMINT or the art of interrogation.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Surprisingly well-written.

[Tasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read!

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chris Mackey gives an inside take of the early days of the War on Terror as a U.S. Army interrogator, maintaining as much of the meat and potatoes of the story, without compromising secrets.

[Mark Pool · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read Parts I and II but couldn't finish. Kind of dull.