Hamdan Interrogator Gained His Confidence With Magazines and McDonald’s

An al-Qaida expert who testified about two interviews he conducted with the driver for Osama bin Laden said he gained his subject’s confidence with small favors.

FBI agent Ali Soufan said he gave Salim Ahmed Hamdan a car magazine and fast food such as McDonald’s fish sandwiches, the Associated Press reports. He also allowed Hamdan to speak with his wife by phone.

Soufan said Hamdan acknowledged that bin Laden had told him “an operation was on its way” before the Sept. 11 attacks. Hamdan moved bin Laden to a safer location in preparation for the operation, Soufan said.

In opening statements, prosecutors said they would also introduce evidence that Hamdan was later told the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania on Sept. 11 was destined for “the dome,” an apparent reference to the Capitol, the New York Times reports.

Soufan said he did not warn Hamdan that he had a right to remain silent in the Guantanamo Bay interviews, the only place where he did not give such warnings. "The way it was explained to us is Guantanamo Bay is an intelligence collection point," he said.

The judge in the case, Navy Capt. Keith Allred, has rejected a contention that Hamdan had a broad right against self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment.