This podcast, it's a Costerton Touchstone production.

I'm John Kiroaki. Welcome to Dead Drop, What Makes a Spy Tick? This is another episode in our series,

What Makes This Spy Tick? And it it's called cross currents. Before we leap into

those treacherous waters, though, some thank yous are in order. We are now a top 10

history podcast on Apple. The rankings are very fluid. They change twice a day, but we have gotten

as high as seventh.

The competition is literally the best history podcasts in the world.

That we are breathing the same air as they are on the charts.

Wow.

And that is all because of you.

We don't take it lightly and we certainly don't take it for granted.

Your likes, shares, your kind reviews, ratings,

and just plain listening has made all the difference. So again, thank you. As I stood on the

tarmac of that Pakistani air base, the one with the emergency medical clinic right at the end of the

runway, I felt pretty good about things.

We pulled off a tricky assignment with a plumb and hopefully we put a serious dent in whatever

terrorism Al-Qaeda was planning. It never occurred to me that my brief encounter with Zane,

the man behind the Abu Zabedah nom de guerrere would ultimately lead to everything it ultimately led to.

Acts of torture by the CIA and its contractors, waterboarding, a complete breakdown in discipline

and ethics and rule of law, and my own righteously indignant response. If only I had known,

Zane, if you recall from when we last saw him, as we maneuvered him onto a plane for rendition, was terrified that we were going to kill him. He had every

reason to be afraid of what was going to happen to him. There are things worse than death.

...