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United States Detention Policy in Counterterrorism and Counterinsurgency Operations: 2001 to 2011

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United States Detention Policy in Counterterrorism and Counterinsurgency Operations: 2001 to 2011 This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from the King’s Research Portal at https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/ United States Detention Policy in Counterterrorism and Counterinsurgency Operations: 2001 to 2011 Qureshi, Ahmed Awarding institution: King's College London The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without proper acknowledgement. END USER LICENCE AGREEMENT Unless another licence is stated on the immediately following page this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the work Under the following conditions: Attribution: You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Non Commercial: You may not use this work for commercial purposes. No Derivative Works - You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. Any of these conditions can be waived if you receive permission from the author. Your fair dealings and other rights are in no way affected by the above. Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 25. Sep. 2021 This electronic theses or dissertation has been downloaded from the King’s Research Portal at https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/ Title: United States Detention Policy in Counterterrorism and Counterinsurgency Operations: 2001 to 2011 Author: Ahmed Qureshi The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without proper acknowledgement. END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ You are free to: Share: to copy, distribute and transmit the work Under the following conditions: Attribution: You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Non Commercial: You may not use this work for commercial purposes. No Derivative Works - You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. Any of these conditions can be waived if you receive permission from the author. Your fair dealings and other rights are in no way affected by the above. Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. United States Detention Policy in Counterterrorism and Counterinsurgency Operations: 2001 to 2011 By Ahmed I. Qureshi, MBA Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Middle East & Mediterranean Studies School of Arts & Humanities Kings College University of London 5 May 2013 *The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without proper acknowledgement. 1 ABSTRACT This thesis examines United States detention policy and operations in the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq and the use of Guantanamo Bay as a key node in detention operations between 2001 and 2011, when the US was engaged in counterterrorism and counterinsurgency operations against various transnational and radical religious extremists. The purpose of this thesis is to synthesise information from 76 primary source interviews and various secondary sources, analyse US detention operations, and provide suggestions for detention policy makers for future conflicts. These first-hand accounts facilitate an accurate portrayal of events because of the depth and breadth of the experience of the sources from senior policy advisors in the US government to high ranking general officers in charge of detention operations to military personnel involved in day to day detainee operations and interrogations. The topic is further elucidated by the examination of the many declassified government documents and official Department of Defence press releases. This thesis illustrates how the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq followed an historic detention cycle where mistakes made led to lessons learned and impacted policy that affected not only detention procedure, but the overarching counterinsurgency effort. 2 CONTENTS Abstract----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2 Contents----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3 Acknowledgments----------------------------------------------------------------------------6 List of Acronyms and Abbreviation------------------------------------------------------7 Chapters: 1. INTRODUCTION Thesis Statement--------------------------------------------------------------------14 Methodology-------------------------------------------------------------------------14 Historical Context------------------------------------------------------------------16 Framework---------------------------------------------------------------------------17 Literature and Sources-------------------------------------------------------------19 Structure------------------------------------------------------------------------------37 Summary------------------------------------------------------------------------------38 2. AFGHANISTAN CASE STUDY Introduction--------------------------------------------------------------------------40 Historical Context-------------------------------------------------------------------41 Historic Detention Cycle Phase One---------------------------------------------44 Historic Detention Cycle Phase Two---------------------------------------------64 Historic Detention Cycle Phase Three and Four------------------------------90 Conclusion-----------------------------------------------------------------------------142 3. GUANTANAMO BAY CASE STUDY Introduction--------------------------------------------------------------------------144 Historical Context-------------------------------------------------------------------144 Historic Detention Cycle Phase One: -------------------------------------------147 Historic Detention Cycle Phase Two---------------------------------------------148 3 Historic Detention Cycle Phase Three and Four------------------------------163 Conclusion-----------------------------------------------------------------------------227 4. IRAQ CASE STUDY Introduction---------------------------------------------------------------------------228 Historical Context--------------------------------------------------------------------229 Historic Detention Cycle Phase One---------------------------------------------232 Historic Detention Cycle Phase Two---------------------------------------------236 Historic Detention Cycle Phase Three and Four------------------------------255 Historic Detention Cycle Phase Five---------------------------------------------297 Conclusion-----------------------------------------------------------------------------300 5. CONCLUSION Afghanistan---------------------------------------------------------------------------303 Guantanamo Bay--------------------------------------------------------------------304 Iraq-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------305 What Matters Most in Detention Operations----------------------------------307 Appendix A------------------------------------------------------------------------------------312 Appendix B------------------------------------------------------------------------------------316 Appendix C------------------------------------------------------------------------------------317 Appendix D------------------------------------------------------------------------------------318 Appendix E------------------------------------------------------------------------------------319 Appendix F------------------------------------------------------------------------------------320 Appendix G------------------------------------------------------------------------------------321 Appendix H------------------------------------------------------------------------------------322 Appendix I-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------323 Appendix J-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------324 4 Appendix K------------------------------------------------------------------------------------325 Appendix L-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------326 Appendix M------------------------------------------------------------------------------------327 Appendix N-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------328 BIBLIOGRAPHY-----------------------------------------------------------------------------329 5 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I have many people to thank in writing this dissertation. Each had an important role. First, thanks to Professor Rory Miller and Dr. Michael Kerr; they were instrumental in helping me craft my research design and guiding me along the way. Thanks to Professor Fawaz Gerges, for his encouragement to begin and endure. Thanks to Jeff Chapman, for helping me see I had to just ‘just do it’. Thanks to Avi Jorisch for his
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