Following the Law is Important in Interrogations
I’m going to go off topic for a bit about something that is important to me. Interrogation and international law. I’m a retired interrogator from the U.S. Army and taught interrogation for three years. Back when I was involved with the Army, we believed in doing the right thing and following international law. Times have changed.
Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post writes that the Bush administration’s decision to hold dozens of al Qaeda prisoners in secret prisons, with no regard to due process is like something out of a bad spy novel. “It was a “small circle of White House and Justice Department lawyers and officials" who approved this archipelago of "black-site" detention centers, The Post reported.”
Why does it matter how we treat a bunch of Islamic radicals who are sworn to bring death and destruction to the United States? It matters because the United States draws its strength and its moral authority in the world from its ideals. We preach about due process, we preach about the rule of law, we preach about humane treatment -- and now we're ignoring our own pronouncements.
But there's more at stake than American standing in the world. Our ideals are the heart and soul of this nation. We are not an ancient nation united by language or blood. Our ideals, rather than ethnicity or even territory, hold us together and make us a nation. When we betray those ideals, we weaken America.
He has it exactly right. It is not a matter of whether they are doing something worse. It’s not a matter of what they deserve. It’s a matter of what kind of people we are and how we choose to live our lives. I always grew up thinking that we were the good guys and believing in democracy and the justice system.
