Rant of the Week

How Glib

"Still, our team pressed ahead and, together with agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, we tracked down many of the Qaeda members responsible for the attack, secured confessions from them and prosecuted them. We were aided by courageous Yemenis from the country’s security, law enforcement and judicial services who shared a commitment to justice and an understanding that ignoring Al Qaeda would only embolden it. We left Yemen with most of the terrorists locked up. " Ali H. Soufan in the New York Times, October 11, 2010

Isn't that amazing? They "tracked down" the terrorists who then confessed to the crime, were prosecuted and imprisoned. Case closed, Perry Mason. On to the next injustice!

Listen to the glibness of "secured confessions from them". What do you think that means? I guess Al Qaeda is not as hard-nosed as some people make them out to be! They were arrested. They were put in cells. The interrogator from the CIA or FBI said, "all right now -- tell us the truth!" And the Al Qaeda member wept. Do I have to? All right...

I'm guessing that most people don't pause at that "secured confessions" and wonder just what that means. I'm guessing that most people would just assume that the evidence that these men were responsible for the attack on the Cole is overwhelming and definitive. I'm guessing that most people don't wonder why confessions were necessary if this gentleman, identified as an FBI agent, had clear and convincing evidence.

I'm guessing that most people don't wonder how the confessions were obtained-- these men were held in Yemen, a Muslim state governed by Sharia law, whose elections are rated as "partly free" by international bodies.