The South Tower of the complex enters the account through the September 11 attacks and their consequences for Stuart Couch. The location is not described in physical detail; its significance lies in the personal and professional path that the attack set in motion for a man later assigned to Mohamedou Ould Slahi’s case at Guantánamo.

The Tower in the Account

The book identifies the South Tower as the building struck by the hijackers aboard a United Airlines flight. Its reference is brief and specific: the tower anchors a personal connection to the attacks rather than an extended account of the site or its history.

Connection to Stuart Couch

Michael Horrocks, Couch’s close friend and fellow Marine refueling-tanker pilot, was the copilot on that flight. The attack drew Couch back to active service. He later joined the Guantánamo military commission’s prosecution team, seeking the opportunity to pursue those responsible for the attacks. When he was assigned Slahi’s case in 2003, the same personal history informed the context in which he encountered intelligence reports about Slahi.

A Limited Documentary Reference

The location’s significance in this passage is mediated through Couch’s biography: the account moves from the attack on the tower to the choices it helped shape, and then to Couch’s role in Slahi’s case. The book’s editorial notes describe a broader method of treating uncertain or redacted material cautiously: the editor drew on manuscript context and public sources but did not claim to reconstruct the concealed text. That restraint matters here as well. The passage establishes the tower’s connection to the attack and to Couch’s history, but does not offer further detail about the location itself.