It Started With A Book...

... a book about a 2002 CIA "rendition" and the subsequent interrogation of a person suspected of being a member of al Qaeda and close to Osama bin Laden.

... a memoir of Glenn L. Carle, the CIA case officer in charge of the interrogation.

... a very interesting read.

But after reading it, I grew restless...

I wanted to discover a bit more than I was allowed to, due to the CIA having heavily redacted the manuscript.  I wanted to know who "CAPTUS" was and whether he was guilty or innocent.  I wanted to know the locations of the secret interrogation centres.

So I went to the internet and eventually obtained some satisfaction.

Cutting through the crap of the CIA's ridiculous and pointless redactions:

"CAPTUS" was a Hawala banker named Pacha Wazir.  He was, by and large, an innocent bystander in the bigger game played by al Qaeda.

The intitial CIA interrogation was probably conducted in a compound run by the Moroccan Secret Service near Rabat (in Morocco.)

"Hotel California" was a "black site", known for the use of torture, probably the one known by the CIA codename "Salt Pit", located a short distance north of Kabul, Afghanistan.

Sources:

[1]   Truth Out: CIA Kidnapped, Tortured "the Wrong Guy"

[2]   Harper's Magazine:   Unredacting “The Interrogator”

[3]   Harper's Magazine:   "The Interrogator": Six Questions for Glenn Carle

[4]   Wikipedia: "Salt Pit"