This article is based on two articles, one by Ed Morrissey at Hot Air yesterday, and one by Paul Mirengoff at Power Line, also yesterday.
During the Presidential campaign, President Obama railed against the interrogation techniques used against terrorists by the Bush Administration. He swore to do better. Well, as Congress begins to investigate the handling of the Christmas Day bomber, there are a few questions that need to be answered.
The article at Hot Air points out that the Obama Administration’s only plan for dealing with Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was to send him through the normal criminal justice system. The article at Hot Air points out:
“In testimony Wednesday before the Senate Homeland Security Committee, Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, and Michael Leiter, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, all said they were not asked to weigh in on how best to deal with Mr. Abdulmutallab. Some intelligence officials, including personnel from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, were included in briefings by the Justice Department before Mr. Abdulmutallab was charged. These sessions did provide an opportunity for those attending to debate the merits of detention vs. prosecution. According to sources with knowledge of the discussions, no one questioned the approach or raised the possibility of taking more time to question the suspect. This makes the administration’s approach even more worrisome than it would have been had intelligence personnel been cut out of the process altogether.”
Power Line points out that the “High Value Detainee Interrogation Group” (HIG) that President Obama was going to set up to take the place of the techniques used during the Bush Administration has not been set up yet. What are they waiting for?
The Power Line article cites the Associated Press report, which stated:
“Captured after a bomb hidden in his underwear ignited but failed to explode, Abdulmutallab spoke freely and provided valuable intelligence, officials said. Federal agents repeatedly interviewed him or heard him speak to others. But when they read him his legal rights nearly 10 hours after the incident, he went silent. …
“After being restrained and stripped bare by fellow passengers and crew, Abdulmutallab was handed over to Customs and Border Protection officers and local police.”
We have all heard the story that when Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was arrested, the first thing he did was ask for a lawyer and a trip to New York City. Unfortunately, under President Obama he got both, but under President Bush, lives were saved because he was properly questioned.
This sort of bureaucratic nonsense is going to cost American lives. It’s time to get whatever apparatus this administration wants to use to question terrorists in place so that future plots can be stopped before they are carried out.