Let me begin by saying I'm not trained in interrogation techniques, but like all Soldiers, I was trained in the Geneva Conventions. Additionally, I've read and re-read the US Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Waterboarding is not a new technique nor is it a new subject in the news. It's been a talking point of diverse groups from politicians to peaceniks to socialists to communists and even terrorists. No, one does not equal another, but they've all had this talking point for some time. Both John McCain and Barack Obama campaigned against it, but neither likely know what exactly was done to the three hardened terrorists who experienced it.
To hear the pundits talk, you would think that the first thing that happened when Troops busted into an Afghan house, was to break out a drowning pool and begin waterboarding some poor hapless farmer. They don't say this. They imply it. Three hardened terrorists have been waterboarded. A few basics on them are in the History of Terrorism from October.
While the pundits and politicians would have you believe this can be reduced to a few simple questions and a youtube video, it cannot be. But let's start with those youtube videos they like to show us. Even
Some of those techniques would in fact be considered torture. Others would be considered a child's game. Others would be considered an idiotic way to get information. Which technique was used is unknown to me and to the readers here and likely unknown to Obama and McCain. Hence neither I, nor the pundits on TV, the self-proclaimed experts, know whether it was torture or not, because they don't know what was done.
Torture is wrong. Torture is idiotic. Torture is illegal. But this is not a case governed by the US Constitution, nor the US Bill of Rights. This is a case governed by the Geneva Conventions and by the Law of Land Warfare.
The repercussions of the allegations of torture are however governed by the US Constitution and Bill of Rights. You see, American Citizens are guaranteed a right to the presumption of innocence, a right to not testify against themselves, a right to face their accusers, and a right to legal representation. Terrorists captured in a foreign nation, while actively attempting to kill Americans, do not have those rights, not even if their status is unlawful combatant.
Enemy combatants don't have a right to a trial. They may lawfully be held until the end of hostilities. Enemy combatants aren't criminals, they're combatants. Terrorists are combatants, but they are also war criminals and as war criminals they can be tried at the discretion of prosecutors, but they don't have a right to a trial, unless they are being held beyond the end of the war. And if the war continues and they are found 'not guilty' of war crimes, they can still be held until the end of the war. They are still combatants.
But let's look at those three terrorists who were waterboarded again. They were the worst of the worst of the worst. KSM was the mastermind behind 9/11. Al-Nashiri was the mastermind behind the USS Cole Bombing. Zubaydeh was the head of AQ Operations. These are hardened terrorists. If they were sentenced to life in prison with constant waterboarding of the worst type of torture allowed by the definition, I would not feel one ounce of sympathy for them. If they were ordered to death by waterboarding style drowning, I would not lose a tear for them. That sentence won't come down for obvious reasons, but nope, I don't feel a bit of sorrow for them.
Torture is a horrible technique of interrogation. If you can't figure out if they're telling the truth before you beat them, you certainly won't know afterwards. But torture is defined by the Geneva Conventions, not the ACLU.
What we do know is that there's been a lot of hoopla over "torture" of 3 terrorists that would gladly cut your neck with a dull knife while smiling into a camera. One of them may have already done so, except that he had a mask on when Daniel Pearl was murdered for the crime of wanting to interview Al-Qaeda to get their side of the story. Normally the media go crazy when one of their own is so horribly murdered, or even falls out of bed in their sleep. Why they care so little about the murder of Pearl is beyond my comprehension.
What we do know is that the Department of Defense had nothing to do with the case. We do know that there probably isn't one interrogated person who likes being interrogated. We do know that it makes nearly all of the detainees "uncomfortable" to even be captured. We do know that we are treating the terrorists captured in accordance with the Geneva Conventions.
What we don't know is whether the particular technique used constitutes torture or not.
What is disconcerting is that the current administration feels perfectly comfortable releasing information that will assist terrorists further develop their counter-interrogation techniques. What is disconcerting is that the current administration and many pundits and politicians seem to afford greater "rights" to murderous terrorists than the intelligence agents defending our Nation.
You want to release something that will put an end to this war? Release that our bullets are dipped in pig's blood and that the captured terrorists are bathed in it. Release that the goats of Waziristan have been genetically altered with pig dna, by Al-Qaeda. Release the numbers of how many muslims have been murdered by Al-Qaeda, by Hamas, by Hezbollah, by the Taliban, by the Haqqani Network, and by the HIG. Point out that the Koran itself states that anyone committing suicide will go straight to Hell.
Islamists won't care about the pig's blood, but the Muslims they prey on for recruits will care that islamists don't care that they are sending their own recruits to hell. Islamists don't care that the Ayatollah Khameni reserves the right to overrule the Koran, but true Muslims know that is heretical.
Honesty and Trust
"For the great enemy of truth is very often not the lie--deliberate, contrived and dishonest--but the myth--persistent, persuasive--of our forebears. We enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought."
John F. Kennedy, Yale, 6-11-1962
Reference the book by Gordon Cucullu, Inside Gitmo for the Truth about Gitmo.
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