Finding Abu Musab al Zarqawi, the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, had long been the U.S. military’s top priority - trumping even the search for Osama bin Laden. No brutality was spared in trying to squeeze intelligence from Zarqawi’s suspected associates. But these “force on force” techniques yielded exactly nothing, and, in the wake of the Abu Grhraib 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. military’s attempt at more civilized interrogation techniques - and their astounding success. The intelligence coup that enabled the June 7, 2006 air strike on Zarqawi’s rural safe house was the result of several keenly strategized interrogations, none of which involved torture or even “control” tactics.

    This text is included on the inside flap of the hardcover edition of How To Break A Terrorist: The U.S. Interrogators Who Used Brains, Not Brutality, To Take Down The Deadliest Man In Iraq. I first learned of this book from The Daily Show back in early December. Jon Stewart interviewed the author, Matthew Alexander about military interrogation techniques that focus on rapport with detainees.

    Alexander, writing under a pseudonym, describes the role he played in Zarqawi’s capture. The story in the book is captivating, and it is fascinating to be allowed to glimpse inside an interrogator’s mind. The techniques that Alexander uses enable him to piece by piece the mystery of Al Qaeda’s operations. These techniques are morally honest and seem to help gather more confessions than force and coercion tactics.

    How to Break a Terrorist kept me interested the whole time. The writing is very good, but the real winner is Alexander’s story-telling. Seeing through the eyes of a U.S. interrogator is enlightening. I had no prior understanding of the Zarqawi situation before reading the book. With all the recent talk about waterboarding and whether torture is effective or not, it seems even more important to read an account like this.

4/5 Stars. 288 pages. Published in 2008.