Columnist Questions White House Silence On Interrogating Terrorists
by Jim Brown and Jenni Parker
October 13, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A conservative columnist says he does not understand why the Bush administration has kept silent regarding certain practices used in the interrogation of terrorism suspects -- or why other Washington conservatives object to the very idea. Brian Ross, the chief investigative correspondent for ABC News, recently reported that the interrogation technique known as "waterboarding" has been successful with many captured terrorists, notably Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of 9/11. Arizona Senator John McCain initially said that under new legislation on military tribunals, waterboarding would be banned; however he later backed off, saying the technique could be banned.
Historically, the practice of waterboarding involved strapping a person to a board, immobilized and tilted with the head lower than the feet, then tipping or lowering the person into a body of water, repeatedly if necessary, until the person -- in fear of drowning -- is compelled to talk, confess, or otherwise acquiesce to demands. Modern variations include, instead of "dunking" the prisoner, covering his or her face with cloth or cellophane and then pouring water over him or her, with the typical effect of causing the interrogation subject to gag and experience extreme discomfort and fear of drowning.
John Gizzi, political editor for Human Events magazine, says although waterboarding has proven to be effective as an interrogation technique, the White House refuses to say whether it supports the practice. He notes that Dana Perrino, acting White House press secretary in Tony Snow's place, when questioned on the topic, simply "wouldn't touch it" and only commented, "We don't discuss those things from this podium."
Gizzi says he and Perrino "went back and forth for a while; but the administration had its line: 'We don't torture, and the methods that are used by the CIA with prisoners are classified.'" For some reason, he observes, the White House is refusing to indicate one way or the other whether it supports interrogation techniques like waterboarding.
The Human Events editor himself does not hesitate to state his approval of using such techniques on enemy al Qaida operatives like Khalid Sheik Mohammed. In fact, the conservative columnist asserts, Congress needs to pass legislation that says the Geneva Conventions' protections do not apply to captured terror suspects.
Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, among other U.S. officials, want to see the Geneva Conventions applied to all prisoners, which means torture would be off limits as an interrogation technique. But Gizzi finds these Republican senators' position difficult to understand, especially since both of them are veterans.
"The Geneva Convention is a protocol signed by different countries," the columnist points out. "Last time I checked, al Qaida was not a country, and indeed, they were operating independently."
Gizzi feels terrorists, as opposed to soldiers in combat, should be considered automatically excluded from the humanitarian considerations of the Conventions -- especially since the terrorist organizations are not signatories of those international treaties and do not follow their rules.
