Former FBI agent Ali Soufan was interviewed for a Newsweek article on April 25, 2009. He spoke about the CIA’s use of enhanced interrogation techniques on captured al Qaeda operations chief Abu Zubaydah in April 2002. “As Soufan tells the story, he challenged a CIA official at the scene about the agency’s legal authority to do what it was doing. ‘We’re the United States of America, and we don’t do that kind of thing,’ he recalls shouting at one point. But the CIA official, whom Soufan refuses to name because the agent’s identity is still classified, brushed aside Soufan’s concerns. He told him in April 2002 that the aggressive techniques already had gotten approval from the ‘highest levels’ in Washington, says Soufan. The official even waved a document in front of Soufan, saying the approvals ‘are coming from Gonzales,’ a reference to Alberto Gonzales, then the White House counsel and later the attorney general.” [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.]
– Michael Isikoff, “ALI SOUFAN BREAKS HIS SILENCE,” Newsweek.com, April 24, 2009