Posted by
EWRoss on Monday, January 25, 2010 7:00:00 AM
We repeatedly hear that the reason
we must close Guantanamo
and refrain from the use of "enhanced interrogation techniques" is
that they do more harm than good. "They are a recruiting tool for
al-Qaeda."
Indeed, they are one of many on a
long list that Islamist-Jihadist use to convince radicalized Muslims to become
suicide bombers. But no one has yet produced evidence to prove that without
them the there would be any fewer terrorist attacks. What we hear instead is
that the terrorists themselves tell us this, so it must be true.
On the other side of the argument,
however, there is considerable evidence that the interrogation of captured
terrorists after 9/11 provided information that resulted in the thwarting of
terrorist attacks in the United States
and Great Britain.
Former Bush administration speech
writer Marc Thiessen
in his new book, Courting Disaster: How the CIA
Kept America Safe and How Barack Obama Is Inviting the Next Attack,
makes the case for the Bush administration interrogation practices. In his book
and the video above he argues that we are no longer capturing and interrogating
terrorists and that the Obama administration is denying the intelligence
community the ability to acquire the information it needs to prevent another
9/11. This week the administration itself confirmed that it has no such
capability. The High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group (HIG) does not yet
exist; and when it does, given its limitations, it's not likely to be effective.
Read this week’s and Sidebar at http://ewross.com
Read Previous EWRoss at http://ewross.com/Sidebar.htm
Read Previous EWRoss weekly columns at http://ewross.com/archive.htm