How to Break a Terrorist: The U.S. Interrogators Who Used Brains, Not Brutality, to Take Down the Deadliest Man in Iraq

How to Break a Terrorist is the thrilling true story of how the author helped track down and capture the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, al Zarqawi.Finding Abu Musab al Zarqawi, the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, had long been the U.S. militarys top prioritytrumping even the search for Osama bin Laden. No brutality was spared in trying to squeeze intelligence from Zarqawis suspected associates. But these force on force techniques yielded exactly nothing, and, in the wake of the Abu Ghraib scandal, the military rushed a new breed of interrogator to Iraq. Matthew Alexander, a former criminal investigator and head of a handpicked interrogation team, gives us the first inside look at the U.S. militarys attempt at more civilized interrogation techniquesand their astounding success.Matthew and his team decided to get to know their opponents. Who were these monsters? Who were they working for? Every day the gators matched wits with a rogues gallery of suspects brought in by Special Forces: egomaniacs, bloodthirsty adolescents, opportunistic stereo repairmen, Sunni clerics horrified by the sectarian bloodbath, al Qaeda fanatics, and good people in the wrong place at the wrong time.This account is an unputdownable thrillermore of a psychological suspense story than a war memoirand a reminder that we dont have to become our enemy to defeat him.