Today’s Topic: Kalid Sheikh Mohammed and Truth
Again we see a time of trouble for the present Administration and some "revelation" about how terrorism is our worst enemy.
Now I’m not against the idea of terrorism being a heinous enemy, but I continue to doubt the timing of released information from people that may well have been tortured in order to garner information.
Supposedly Kalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) has somehow come to his senses during his 3 year stint in CIA based prisions and now, once sent to Gitmo, has decided to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
Where is it that the powers that be cannot see the disconnect between 3 years in tight confinement and possible torture during the CIA incarceration, and the military tribunal message he presented and which has now be released to the public?
We are talking about something that defies realistic and deliberate thinking. Why, for instance, was it said before that KSM was less forthcoming even as American intelligence agents held his son’s life in their hands? Why come through with all the possible threats to America and others as if these actions were a brand of courage?
Well, one possibility is that his statements were indeed a brand of courage, but I assume that the Jihadists wouldn’t think so. And the fact is that anyone who has had torture applied for 3 plus years is suspect in their pronouncements. The question would be whether KSM had any knowledge of his supposed plans prior to hearing about them, if indeed he heard about them at all during his CIA incarceration.
Now I’m not saying that KSM didn’t come up with the list, but if in fact he did, then terrorists all over the world no longer have a "mastermind" simply due to the fact that nothing major has happened in the world since his capture. Someone that could be considered a mastermind would only come perhaps once or twice in a generation, and nothing suggests that if there were two they would both be on the same side.
The point of all this is not to say the KSM didn’t say the things our military declares he said, but whether he had foreknowledge or postknowledge and made use of the information to confuse the issues, the timelines and the people who have to continue looking for the culprits.
For if KSM was the deciding factor in these efforts, and he has been behind some set of bars for such a period of time, then indeed the governmental agencies responsible for the safety of Americans across the world have either done a great job or, if he is not responsible, then a great snow job.
How will we be able to tell? President Bush is under a great amount of stress right now, what with coming home after a tumultuous South American trip and Alberto Gonzales’ statements to Congress that no political process was involved with the dismissal of eight sitting US Attorneys whilst at least one was replaced with a Rove supporter.
We have 8.500 more troops going to Iraq and back to Iraq, over and above the 21,500 supposedly to cover the surge, some thousand or so that are medically substantiated as unfit for combat. We have thousands of troops that have been put into warehousing whilst still serving in the active military until they can be transferred to the VA and they have been living in squalor at Walter Reed. We have assaults on the Patriot Act since the FBI can’t seem to come up with reasonable figures on how many citizens rights were stepped on through national security letters, and we have an interim election that has given Bush a mandate on changing the "stay the course" concept of fighting a losing war.
My point is that since there are so many negatives about the administration, and the administration itself is fighting for its very life, I don’t find it plausible that one individual being under duress if not tortured for the past three years would actually be truthful about any of his activities. Rather he would say at some point along the way whatever his captors had wanted to hear.
So again it comes down to what KSM knew before the attacks he claims to have planned, or whether he came about this knowledge from interrogators that simply let things slip in an effort to coerce him into statements.
This is the problem with torture, and the real problem with torture isn’t that someone might say anything their torturers might want to hear as much as it is that an administration would accept such a level of admission of guilt. It is bad enough that this administration chose to accept the suggestions of Chalabi amongst others, but even worse if whether what they continue their operations on are simply admissions under torture.
This President has told us time and again that the United States does not torture, and yet we can assume that it does because the fear they spread throughout the land is a brand of torture sinking into the hearts of each American. If the administration can try to hold down the people through fear, then it isn’t surprising that they could extract admissions of guilt from people though the fear invested by torture.
The real question comes down to whether this administration suborns torture or not, and the only way to look at the question is to accept what this President has put into signing statements over the years. For it appears that while this administration suggests that it doesn’t support torture it has, time and time again, chosen to submit signing statements questioning the Constitutionality of such laws that would prohibit torture.
And there in lies the crux. If this administration hadn’t supported the use of torture we probably wouldn’t have this problem now.
Is Kalid Sheikh Mohammed speaking from his experience or is he subject to torture? If the latter he cannot be trusted in his statements. If the former then how are we, the American people supposed to decide?
With this administration calling again and again on the terrorist acts supposedly scheduled to occur, and the possibility of torture bringing meaningful information to the forefront, then I don’t believe that Americans will ever know which is correct.
And this is exactly the place this administration would like to have the American people.
1:23:54 PM 
|
