Clicking on banner ads enables JWR to constantly improve
Jewish World Review Oct. 25, 2001 /8 Mar-Cheshvan, 5762

Michael Ledeen

Ledeen
JWR's Pundits
World Editorial
Cartoon Showcase

Mallard Fillmore

Michael Barone
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Don Feder
Suzanne Fields
James Glassman
Paul Greenberg
Bob Greene
Betsy Hart
Nat Hentoff
David Horowitz
Marianne Jennings
Michael Kelly
Mort Kondracke
Ch. Krauthammer
Lawrence Kudlow
Dr. Laura
John Leo
David Limbaugh
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Michael Medved
MUGGER
Kathleen Parker
Wes Pruden
Sam Schulman
Amity Shlaes
Roger Simon
Tony Snow
Thomas Sowell
Cal Thomas
Jonathan S. Tobin
Ben Wattenberg
George Will
Bruce Williams
Walter Williams
Mort Zuckerman

Consumer Reports


How to talk to a terrorist


http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com -- IT seems that the FBI is having trouble getting information out of Arab terrorist suspects. According to bureau officials, the problem is that the suspects know that they won't be tortured, and so they're clamming up. No doubt they are also counting on Dershowitz & co. to defend them if things get tougher.


According to some recent interviews, the bureau is thinking about extraditing these guys to some friendly Arab countries - like Egypt and Morocco - where interrogation is conducted more vigorously than here. There is certainly something to be said for it, but before we turn them over to the tender mercies of their Arab brothers we ought to use the considerable resources of the country that has the most experience, and the greatest success, in dealing with Islamic terrorism. That would be Israel.


We are hampered not only by the constitutional protections of the accused or the suspected; we have very few interrogators who are fluent in Arabic, conversant with Islamic culture, and sufficiently sophisticated to understand the mentality of the terrorists. There are scores of Israelis who have all these skills, and many of them are now retired, and would be delighted to help us. Moreover, while Israel has often subjected terrorist suspects to interrogation that would not pass muster in the D.C. Court of Appeals, Israeli courts have insisted on strict limits on acceptable methods. This is not the case in even the most civilized of our Arab allies.


The use of Israeli interrogators would have immense psychological advantages, since the terrorists take it for granted that the United States and Israel are simply two parts of a vast Satanic continuum, and as soon as they see an Israeli asking questions they will immediately assume that they have been sent to a hotter level of Hell. I suspect that they will be more forthcoming under the changed circumstances.


Indeed, this seems so obvious that I wonder why it hasn't been done already. Can it be that here, too, the obsessive concern with preserving our vast "alliance" at all costs has gotten in the way of achieving our life-and-death mission?


Let's work with our democratic allies first, and turn to friendly tyrannies only as a last resort.



JWR contributor Michael Ledeen is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and author of Tocqueville on American Character . Comment by clicking here.

Up

10/23/01: Creative Reporting: Learning to appreciate press briefings
10/19/01: Not the Emmys: A Beltway award presentation
10/15/01: Rediscovering American character
10/11/01: Somehow, I've missed Arafat's praise of the first stage of our war on terrorism
10/04/01: What do we not know?
09/28/01: Machiavelli On Our War: Some advice for our leaders
09/25/01: No Room for the U.N.: Keeping Annan & co. out of the picture
09/21/01: Creative destruction
09/14/01: Who Killed Barbara Olson?
08/22/01: How Israel will win this war
08/15/01: Bracing for war
08/09/01: More Dithering Democrats
08/02/01: Delirious Dems
07/31/01: Consulting a legendary counterspy about Chandra and Condit, cont'd
07/19/01: Be careful what you wish for
07/17/01: Consulting a legendary counterspy about Chandra and Condit
07/05/01: Let Slobo Go
05/30/01: Anybody out there afraid of the Republicans?
05/09/01: The bad guys to the rescue
05/07/01: Bye-bye, Blumenthal
04/20/01: Handling China
04/11/01: EXAM TIME!
04/05/01: Chinese over-water torture
03/27/01: Fighting AIDS in Africa is a losing proposition
03/14/01: Big Bird, Oscar, and other threats
03/09/01: Time for a good, old-fashioned purge
03/06/01: Powell’s great (mis)adventure
02/26/01: The Clinton Sopranos
02/20/01: Unity Schmoonity: Sharon is defying the will of the people
01/30/01: The Rest of the Rich Story
01/22/01: Ashcroft the Jew
01/11/01: A fitting close to the Clinton years
12/26/00: Continuing Clinton's shameful legacy
12/21/00: Clinton’s gift for Bush

© 2001, Michael Ledeen