A Very Dangerous Terrorist

We are now holding a very dangerous terrorist and, thanks to Rummy and his buddies, we can’t take him to trial and can’t convict him and we don’t know exactly what to do with him.
by Charlie Leck

Since writing this blog I have come across a very serious and profitable discussion of this issue, involving a number of talented voices. It's in the New York Times section called "Room for Debate." On this particular issue the questions I raise below are discussed and the possible solutions are presented and debated by 5 different experts in the field. [Take a look!]

There’s an extremely significant story in the Washington Post of 14 January 2008 about the 20th Hijacker of the 9-11 planes. Susan J. Crawford told investigative reporter Bob Woodward: “There’s no doubt in my mind he would’ve been on one of those planes had he gained access to the country in August 2001. He’s a muscle hijacker.”

Crawford is a Pentagon official responsible for deciding whether to bring detainees to trial. She’s determined that Mohammed al-Qahtani was tortured while detained at Guantanamo.
"His treatment met the legal definition of torture,” Crawford said, “and that's why I did not refer the case…"

The torture has tainted the case against him and Crawford has determined he can’t go to trial. If he can’t go to trial, what’s to be done with him? Do we release him? Put him back out into the world now that he hates us even more than he did before?”

Crawford added: “He’s a very dangerous man. What do you do with him now if you don’t charge him and try him? I would be hesitant to say, ‘Let him go.”

Susan Crawford is a retired military judge and a former Pentagon inspector general She knows her stuff. She has flatly stated that she would not allow the prosecution of al-Qahtani.
Isn’t this a wonderful mess? Such wonderful gifts the likes of Rumsfeld—Cheney—Bush have given us![Read the story and see what a mess this torture has created!]

There were many people who were predicting our policy of torture in the Guantanamo prison would lead to problems like this. Now, here’s living proof. We have a monster among us and, legally, we can’t do anything about it.

And don’t say, “Forget the legalities!” That’s what got us into this mess in the first place. It is not the American way!

Another ominous warning some military people have been giving us about our program of torture at Guantanamo is that it endangers our own military personnel who might get captured. Those in charge of their incarceration will know about Guantanamo and what we did there and they will likely believe it gives them “cover” if they use the same techniques on our citizens.

An interesting web site, freedetainees.org, revealed the list of interrogation techniques, approved by Donald Rumsfeld, that could be used against Mohammed al Qahtani.

• Beatings


• Severe sleep deprivation combined with 20-hour interrogations for months at a time


• Threats of rendition to other countries that torture


• Explicit threats made against his family, including female members of his family


• Strip searches, body searches and forced nudity, at times in the presence of female personnel


• Sexual humiliation


• Humiliation by forcing him to bark like a dog, dance with a mask on his face, and pick up piles of trash with his hands cuffed while he was called “a pig”


• Denial of the right to practice his religion, including prohibiting him from praying for prolonged times and during Ramadan


• Threats to desecrate the Koran in front of him


• Attacks by dogs


• Forcible administration of frequent IVs by medical personnel during interrogation


• Being placed in acute stress positions for hours at a time


• Being placed in tight restraints repeatedly for many months or days and nights


• Exposure to low temperatures for extended periods of time


• Exposure to loud music for prolonged times


• At least 160 days of severe isolation