Former civilian senior Intelligence/Policy adviser to Iraq's Ministry of Interior, detainee screen/interrogator, talks about former Iraqi regime and terrorism
During a series of email and telephone exchanges Matthew Degn relayed to www.regimeofterror.com his vast array of experiences working with intelligence issues relating to the current and former situation in Iraq. Among his responsibilities during his years in Iraq Degn worked as a civilian interrogator attached to the U.S. Army in Iraq before working as a Senior Policy/Intelligence Adviser to Deputy General Kamal and other top intelligence officials with the Iraq's Ministry of Interior. Degn, currently working on a book about his experiences in Iraq (personal website here), continues to argue against those that feel there was no link between terrorism and Saddam Hussein's regime based on his involvement with hundreds of interrogations in Iraq and his involvement with many of the Iraqi Intelligence officials with the Ministry of Interior. Degn says that much of the public perception about Saddam Hussein's regime and terrorism are incorrect.
Degn is currently the Director of the Intelligence Studies Program and a professor at American Military University currently a professor at American Military University whose testimony about events in Iraq has been cited by NPR, ABC News, the Washington Post and elsewhere. According to his American Military University bio Degn (pronounced Dayne) also:"has extensive experience in the Middle East, serving most recently as a senior intelligence/policy advisor to the Iraqi Ministry of Interior in Baghdad." He also "he was the senior civilian advisor in the creation of the Iraqi Counter-terrorism Agency, mentored Iraqi senior government intelligence officials at the Deputy Minister level, and witnessed the inner workings of the Iraqi government at the highest levels." "Professor Degn has also been involved in the screening and interrogation process within Iraq. He served at Abu Ghraib prison and was among the last Americans in the prison facility before its closing. He witnessed the harmful effects the infamous prison scandal had on U.S. foreign policy and the interrogation process. While in different prison facilities he has interviewed members of Al Qaida, Jaysh-al-Mahdi (Mahdi Army), Badr Corps, Iranian, Syrian, and Saudi insurgents, and members of other terrorist entities from Iraq and the surrounding region. Moreover, he has experience as a senior counter-terrorism analyst in Washington D.C. and in the military. Professor Degn is the author of numerous essays and other writings with subjects ranging from foreign policy and violent militias to terrorist methodologies, private security companies in war, and the use of intelligence within the Middle East."
In addition to the hundreds of detainees listed in his American Military University bio Degn participated in the interrogations of members of the Abu Nidal organization and Ba'ath party officials at Camp Cropper, Abu Ghraib and elsewhere.
Former regime's links to al QaedaWhen asked about recent media reports citing Saddam Hussein's denial to the FBI about links to al Qaeda Degn viewed these reports as...continued here.
If he was a civilian interrogator, then what types of techniques did he use to gain the information that he claims.
Nothern Washington: Does he mean Spokane, where the SERE group who were major contributors to the torture techniques are housed?
Until I hear more details, oh yeah, wait for the book!, I will be more inclined to believe the documentation in the Armed Forces Report...not an independent interrogator (who were working with the CIA, not the FBI).
July 11, 2009 3:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hogwash In -> -> Wet Manure Out.
What? You've managed to reduce this complex issue down from its myriad of perspectives into a deliciously dialectic dualistic delight? Does this mean you are within Contemporary Conservatism's Trotskyist Wing, in the midst of revisionary renunciants?
Your user bio info seems to indicate you exercise direct editorial control over the website: Regimeofterror.com. Reverse look-ups on the domain, Regimeofterror.com, show that it is registered anonymously through DNS Services of Jacksonville , FL. My guess is that it is served from a VPS Account supplied through them, which comes with one IP Address (63.247.137.121), and masks its nameservers using an alias to xthreats.com (also served from IP Address 63.247.137.121).
The IP, 63.247.137.121, presently serves at least twelve separate domains:
- bayonetgroup.com
- counterterrorism-foundation.org
- counterterrorismfoundation.org
- daveedgr.com
- gartensteinross.com
- haftofthespear.com
- littleredblog.com
- marvinhutchens.com
- peace-ihatetheword.com
- regimeofterror.com
- xthreats.com
- xthreats.net
Am I getting warm?Now onto some speculation. Quickly poking around the above sites exposes three main name associations: Marvin Hutchens, Michael Tanji, and Daveed Gartenstein-Ross.
Gartenstein-Ross throws interesting correlations with wikipedia user: Huysman; not the least of which are that User's obvious familiarity with the procedures and inner workings of Wikipedia; and the high frequency of edits initially (660 between April 19, 2006 - June 24, 2006), which dropped off to almost nil about the time regimeofterror.com was first registered (July 4, 2006). Another interesting correlation with Gartenstein-Ross, is Wikipedia_User: Huysman's admission of being, "A Catholic scholar athlete in high school with a Christian apologetics and philosophy blog", and factoids gleaned from gartensteinross.com, which mentions that Gartenstein-Ross has taken part in a FrontPage symposium with David Horowitz frontman and Catholic Historian, who falsely claims to have an educational background in Islamic studies; mentions that he is "a Ph.D. candidate in world politics at the Catholic University of America"; and that, "Gartenstein-Ross has traveled widely, including covering the Iraq war as an embedded journalist and visiting the detention facilities at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base." Apologetics, indeed!
Oh what a tangled web you weave, when first you practise to circle-jerk reference yourself into notoriety. Is the Catholic Church now Apologetic about its members' antinomianism?
July 11, 2009 10:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
Pseudo,
I know like one of those guys you mentioned. That sounds like a pretty wild conspiracy.
I guess posting comments at this site and HuffPo makes me a wacky lefty too from a conservative.
July 11, 2009 10:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
Everything I previously posted down to the paragraph that began with, "Now onto some speculation", has nothing to do with conspiracy theory.
You clearly list your associated TPM User website to be regimeofterror.com. Your first blog post at TPM Cafe has a link to regimeofterror.com in its first sentence, and three other links pointing to that site.
Are you now renouncing your personal association to this site? If not, I find the assertion that you, "know, like one of these guys", to be an artful dodge.
Additionally, publicly available site analytics for regimeofterror.com, show it receives less than 1000 unique US visitors/month. No matter how you slice it; SPAM is still mystery meat, unmarketable in its original form, squished together and gelatinised into obfuscated nastiness for retail sale. Quit spamming TPM with you own gelatinised personal website content, ok?
July 11, 2009 10:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
And by the way guys, Degn has been cited by NPR, Washpost, ABC and others for his work exposing Blackwater.
He also penned a paper for the military before the invasion OPPOSING the war. His credentials are solid.
July 11, 2009 10:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
You are suggesting that the words of a contract civilian interrogator in Iraq, be accepted, simply because he has been cited by major league news-media? He's an American PR flack talking head for the Iraq Ministry of Interior. It's no surprise he's been cited. He opposition to the Invasion of Iraq is a completely separate issue from his views about proper interrogatory methods used upon persons Held Under the Colour Of Authority Imparted By The American Flag. Ex-CIA Analyst Michael Scherer believes the Invasion of Iraq was wrong, yet has no problem with America's torture of detainees.
Offer me insight into how Degn has vocally stood and dissented against America's Use of Torture; otherwise it seems much more likely he's just covering his fat-exposed ass.
July 11, 2009 11:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
He wasn't "just" a civilian interrogator.
He was chosen by the Iraqis to help their LEADERS set up the MOI, their version of the FBI. He had access to the Iraqi government's top intelligence on all these matters.
I am not saying his testimony is the ONLY word or FINAL word on this topic but it certainly stands against the conventional wisdom on the topic.
Not gonna get into "torture" because it's irrelevant to the story.
July 11, 2009 11:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
Are you quoting the same pro "torture" Michael Scheurer who was recently on Fox saying the best thing for America right now is a terrorist attack?
July 11, 2009 11:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
Not if he conducted interrogations in the facilities you claim he did.
First it's important to note that there is nothing in his Bio that would qualify him to directly participate in interrogations. Interestingly enough, Spokane (in N. Washington) is the home to the premier civilian facility that was created to implement and train in the JPRA SERE-derived torture program. If he was a civie involved with operational interrogation, there is only one facility that he could possibly be associated with that would provide him with the level of access he claims in the camps described: Mitchel Jessen & Associates - over at the American Legion building. Torture for hire is what the company did.
Now, considering there is significant evidence that a primary purpose of torture was to extract confessions of an association between Iraq and Bin Laden, the methods by which Degan came by his belief seem to be of utmost importance.
Do you know how silly this sounds? The Iraqis weren't in a position to select the Americans they wanted to work with - particularly during the periods the facilities he is associated with (Cropper, AG) were in operation.Now, with likely associations to a torture training facility, one might argue that his job was to ensure that the Iraqis established SOPs that integrated the JPRA torture regimen. Which would explain how the JSOC/CIA managed to launder some of their torture: by using civilians operating as advisers to the Iraqi MOI.
This could actually be a significant piece of the torture puzzle. I'm gonna have to bounce it off Marcy and the gang over at EW and see if they have shaken anything out on this front yet. If it can be shown that JPRA-associated training was being given to Iraqi personnel - that would be huge.
If the guy's in contact with you, ask what city he lives in. Then in a subsequent email ask if he ever was ever associated with Mitchell Jessen & Associates. (Unless you are scared of the truth)
July 11, 2009 6:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
To label anyone involved in interrogating detainees with the broad brush of a "torturer" is incredibly offensive and inaccurate. Is the entire U.S. military and CIA worthy of condemnation to you?
July 21, 2009 9:44 AM | Reply | Permalink
Pseudo,
I am sorry my posting here offends you. Don't know what to tell you.
I know my site's traffic and know my domain, the rest was gibberish.
You continue to support the allegation that many on the left are just flat out intolerant of other opinions. Stop doing that. The rest of the party really doesn't need that garbage.
July 11, 2009 11:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
Pseudo,
I'd be more than happy to discuss the substance of the story instead of drifting into irrelevant drivel.
July 11, 2009 11:05 AM | Reply | Permalink