Former CIA head of the Bin Laden Unit Michael Scheuer gave an interview to a German publication called Der Zeit that sheds a great deal of light on the program. Much of the light shone will never break past the barriers in U.S. media even though rendition is a program developed in the United States and headed up by the CIA. Of course the program was developed during the mid-1990s, but most Americans are under the impression this is a new program and it is specifically designed to capture Al Qaida suspects and take them to nations known for torture. This isn’t exactly the case as Scheuer tells Der Zeit.

ZEIT: You helped develop the system of renditions at the CIA . . . Were these “extraordinary renditions” a success from the point of view of the CIA?

Scheuer: Absolutely. For a decade it was the United States’ most successful anti-terrorism program.

ZEIT: Why?

Scheuer: Because the goals were so clearly defined. First, we wanted to identify the members and contacts of the terror-group al-Qaida and put them in jail. Those in fact who had either taken part in an attack on the United States or who were possibly planning an attack. Second, papers and electronics were to be confiscated. It is being claimed in the media that we had apprehended and hauled off people on the basis of some suspicions, in order to interrogate them. But that isn’t right.

ZEIT: You didn’t want to interrogate?

Scheuer: If it was possible to interrogate, we considered that the icing on the cake. We just wanted the man and his documents.

These suspects were taken to nations which had warrants for their arrest and the CIA sat in the background as all renditions were handled by local authorities according to Scheuer. Now we are led to believe European nations which cooperated in this program did so not knowing what was happening. Again Scheuer says that is not correct, and naturally the preconceived notion that some European nations somehow believe even though they are directly in line of the Caliphate they are immune to the threat of Al Qaida.

ZEIT: Why did countries want to cooperate with you on their own territory? Couldn’t they have dealt with it themselves?

Scheuer: They believed that only America was threatened. And that they would themselves only become targets of terror if they arrested suspects . . .

But they did arrest suspects according to Scheuer. Local police and intelligence services apprehended the suspects and interrogated them with written questions submitted by the CIA.

Is this program the bungled mess U.S. media reports it is? That all depends on how you measure success. Scheuer, a chief architect to the program, believes it has been a tremendous success but may not be anymore.

ZEIT: Didn’t you have concerns about torture in these countries?

Scheuer: No my job was to protect American citizens by taking Al-Qaida people off the street . . . This operation was 90% a huge success and only 10% a disaster.

ZEIT: In what did the disaster consist?

Scheuer: Everything was made public. Now the Europeans will help us a great deal less, because they have to fear that everything will be in the Washington Post. And then there is this blowhard in the Senate, John McCain, who almost concedes that the CIA tortures. All completely false. But that’s how the whole program was destroyed.

And once again leaks by the CIA, politicians or other intelligence services to the press comprimise a program that worked. Seemingly this is a never ending cycle, but it’s a bit humorous why a leak of this program never occured when it was developed but had to wait until the United States decided to fight back against Al Qaida with boots on the ground in their homes, and not ours. You could easily draw political agendas of the leaking party or parties, but I am not prepared to do that here.

The translations were provided by Melchior Sternfels of Simplicius Redivivus. My apologies to Sternfels for not seeing the note it was his translation.

Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
Part V

Hat tip to American Future.