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Kill or Capture (Alexander book)

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Kill or Capture: How a Special Operations Task Force Took Down a Notorious al Qaeda Terrorist
First edition
AuthorMatthew Alexander
PublisherMacmillan Publishing
Publication date
2011
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint
Pages304
ISBN9780312656874

Kill or Capture: How a Special Operations Task Force Took Down a Notorious al Qaeda Terrorist is a book published by Macmillan Publishing in early 2011. The author, a former interrogator, criticizes the use of "extended interrogation techniques".[1] The author, who wrote under the pseudonym Matthew Alexander, was interviewed on National Public Radio on February 14, 2011.

He said

"The first step of any interrogation is to understand your detainee, understand what uniquely motivates them as an individual," [You have to understand] why they joined al-Qaida or another insurgent group, why they decided to pick up arms. And if you can analyze them and figure out those motivations, then you can craft an appropriate approach and incentive, but not until you've done that."[1]

Alexander is also the author of How to Break a Terrorist: The U.S. Interrogators Who Used Brains, Not Brutality, to Take Down the Deadliest Man in Iraq. According to Jeff Stein, writing in The Washington Post, the author's real name was Anthony Camerino, a major in the United States Air Force Reserve.[2] Steven E. Levingston, also writing in the Washington Post, asserted that the book describes how bad intelligence routinely lead to targeting the wrong individuals.[3]

References

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  1. ^ a b Dave Davies (2011-02-14). "One Man Says No To Harsh Interrogation Techniques". National Public Radio. Retrieved 2012-08-06. In his second book, Kill or Capture, Alexander — a pseudonym for the author — recounts how his team of interrogators tracked down and captured another wanted man: a Syrian named Zafar, the leader of al-Qaida in northern Iraq.
  2. ^ . Jeff Stein (2011-02-01). "Ex-interrogator describes mistaken Iraq raids". Washington Post. Archived from the original on February 9, 2013. Retrieved 2012-08-06. Matthew Alexander, the pen name for Air Force Reserve Maj. Anthony Camerino, describes his struggle to provide compensation for the victims of the raids in a new book, "Kill or Capture: How a Special Operations Task Force Took Down a Notorious Al Qaeda Terrorist," to be published today.
  3. ^ Steven E. Levingston (2011-02-04). "Iraq special ops member chronicles terrorist chase". Washington Post. Archived from the original on February 9, 2013. Retrieved 2012-08-06. In his book, "Kill or Capture:How a Special Operations Task Force Took Down a Notorious al Qaeda Terrorist," senior military interrogator Matthew Alexander recounts the pursuit of a Syrian mass murderer named Zafar, the leader of al Qaeda in northern Iraq.