Abu Zubaydah : biography

U.S. government accounts of Abu Zubaydah’s importance

As was later reported in 2009, the U.S. government overestimated Zubaydah’s importance. Justice Department Officials said in 2009, he was "[t]he above ground support… To make him the mastermind of anything is ridiculous", a "personnel clerk",, The New York Times, 17 April 2009 a "logistics chief",, Political/Congressional Transcript Wire, 20 December 2007 (Access My Library Link, requires free membership) and a "travel agent." The CIA reportedly told Zubaydah during his interrogation that they had learned he was not an al-Qaeda fighter, partner, or even a member.Peter Finn and Julie Tate , The Washington Post, 16 June 2009

The allegations included:

• Abu Zubaydah was "sinister" and "[t]here is evidence that he is a planner and a manager as well. I think he’s a major player.” – Former State Department director of counter-terrorism, Michael Sheehan April 2, 2002 (Highbeam News Database Link, requires free membership)
• Abu Zubaydah was “extremely dangerous” and a planner of 9/11. – John B. Bellinger III in a June 2007 briefing on Guantanamo Bay. Political/Congressional Transcript Wire, June 22, 2007 (Access My Library Link, requires free membership)
• Abu Zubaydah was a trainer, a recruiter, understood bomb-making, was a forger, a logistician, and someone who made things happen, and made “al-Qaeda function.” – Former CIA station chief, Bob Grenier CNN, September 24, 2006 (Access My Library Link, requires free membership)
• “I don’t think there’s any doubt but a man named Abu Zubaydah is a close associate of UBL’s, and if not the number two, very close to the number two person in the organization. I think that’s well established.” -Donald Rumsfeld April 2, 2002 (Access My Library Link, requires free membership)
• Abu Zubaydah was “a very senior al Qaeda official who has been intimately involved in a range of activities for the al Qaeda.” – Donald Rumsfeld Department of Defense, April 2, 2002
• Abu Zubaydah was a “very senior al Qaeda operative.” – Donald Rumsfeld Department of Defense, April 3, 2002
• Abu Zubaydah was a “key terrorist recruiter and operational planner and member of Osama bin Laden’s inner circle.” – White House spokesman Ari Fleischer BBC News, April 2, 2002
• The capture of Abu Zubaydah was a “very serious blow” to al-Qaeda and that one of al-Qaeda’s “many tentacles" was "cut off.” – White House spokesman Ari Fleischer Western Mail, April 3, 2002
• Abu Zubaydah was “one of the top operatives plotting and planning death and destruction on the United States.” – Former President George W. Bush White House website, April 9, 2002
• Abu Zubaydah was “one of al-Qaeda’s top leaders” who was “spending a lot of time as one of the top operating officials of al Qaeda, plotting and planning murder.” – Former President George W. BushGeorge W. Bush’s Remarks at the Virginia Military Institute, April 17, 2002
• Abu Zubaydah was “al Qaeda’s chief of operations.” – President George W. Bush
• “Abu Zubaydah was one of the top three leaders” in al-Qaeda. – President George W. Bush White House website, October 14, 2002
• Abu Zubaydah’s interrogation “led to reliable information”, that Abu Zubaydah was a “prolific producer” of information,Jeff Bliss and Tony Capaccio, Iraq Group May Attack Outside Nation, McConnell Says Bloomberg.com, February 5, 2008 and that roughly 25 percent of the information on al Qaeda that came from human sources originated from Abu Zubaydah. – Michael Hayden. ABC News, February 5, 2008