Posted on 06/16/2005 9:19:18 PM PDT by CHARLITE
MANILA, Philippines -- My Fox News producers and I have just returned from documenting an atrocity. While we were at the scene of the crime interviewing eyewitnesses, a copy of this week's Time magazine was placed in my hotel room.
Our day was devoted to detailing the horrific treatment meted out to more than 75,000 Allied prisoners of war in the Philippines between 1942 and 1945. The day ended with an American "news" magazine's "sometimes shocking" classified account of how captured terrorists are treated at Guantanamo. A day that began with the Bataan Death March ended with a death wish.
Since we have been in Manila, 14 Filipinos have died at the hands of Abu Sayyaf Islamic terrorists. The murders hardly made the news in the United States. In that same timeframe, five American soldiers and more than two dozen civilians were killed by terrorists in Iraq.
In much of our media, the Iraqi butchery was offered as further proof that bringing democracy to Baghdad is a futile endeavor. Absent from U.S. reporting about the atrocities in Iraq and the Philippines is the fact that the architects of the attacks cared neither about how many non-combatants were killed, nor whether the perpetrators themselves survived. Yet, according to "experts" interviewed by Time magazine, the techniques used by the U.S. military to interrogate terrorists detained at Guantanamo are an "outrage on personal dignity."
The real outrage isn't the affront to the "dignity" of suicide terrorists being interrogated and kept alive against their will by our military at Guantanamo; the greater offense is our mainstream media's lack of context for what transpires there -- and the apparent disregard for the consequences of such revelations during a time of war.
The right of the American media to publish classified military information -- such as that in Time magazine's "exclusive" account from Guantanamo -- is well established. During World War II, the Chicago Tribune divulged that the Battle of Midway had been won thanks to the code-breakers at Station Hypo in Hawaii. Though Americans fighting for their lives in the Pacific theater died because the Japanese immediately changed their JN-25 naval code, no one was ever prosecuted for revealing the secret.
Nor will anyone at Time magazine be arrested for publishing classified data on U.S. military interrogation techniques at Guantanamo. But there should be no doubt that the material detailed in the periodical is now being incorporated in the next editions of training manuals used to indoctrinate members of the Taliban, Al Qaeda, Abu Sayyaf, Hezbollah, the Muslim Brotherhood, et al. That begs a broader question about the whole controversy surrounding the Guantanamo detention facility: Does our so-called mainstream media have a "death wish"?
Much of the information contained in this week's Time magazine was apparently extrapolated from a classified "interrogation log" prepared by those observing and questioning "Detainee 063" -- Mohammed al-Qahtani -- a Saudi member of Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda organization. Though the authors of the report quote an unnamed Pentagon source saying that the illegally disclosed document was "never meant to leave Gitmo," they don't say why -- or clarify the rationale for its "secret" classification.
The reason for these omissions is simple: The publication reveals interrogation techniques that our enemies will now use against us, making it more difficult to extract valuable intelligence from terrorists in the future. In substance and consequence, this week's Time magazine is little different from the 1942 "code-breakers" report in the Chicago Tribune.
Though the right of news organizations to "break" this kind of "news" is well protected by our Constitution's First Amendment, the motive for doing so is suspect. A careful reading of this week's story -- now repeated in numerous outlets -- reveals that "Detainee 063" is subjected to treatment that is barely harsher than a military boot camp: standing for prolonged periods, isolation, removal of clothing, forced shaving of facial hair, playing on "individual phobias" (such as barking dogs), "mild, non-injurious physical contact such as grabbing, poking in the chest with the finger and light pushing."
His interrogation cell has pictures of Sept. 11 victims, American flags and red lights. He has to stand for the playing of the U.S. national anthem. He is subjected to "Invasion of Space by a Female." And when he refuses to drink the water he is routinely offered and becomes severely dehydrated, his handlers take him to a hospital facility, where medical personnel administer fluids intravenously. Time magazine describes all of this as a "glimpse into the darker reaches of intelligence gathering."
Darker reaches? The "log" was classified so that our well-trained and very dedicated adversaries wouldn't know how to beat the interrogation "system" when captured. Time claims that their story reveals how U.S. military personnel "specialize in extracting information by almost any means." But the truth is, the means used are remarkably humane.
In response to the furor created by the al-Qahtani story, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) observed: "The guy ... is going to dine tomorrow on lemon fish with two types of vegetables, two types of fruit, and then he will be afforded his taxpayer-funded Quran, taxpayer-funded prayer beads and oil so he can pray, presumably, to kill more Americans."
Though the editors are unlikely to acknowledge it, Time magazine's much-ballyhooed story has far less to do with human rights than it does with domestic politics. The authors even admit that "the case of Detainee 063 is sure to add fire to the debate about the use of American power in the age of terrorism." Fire indeed. One should be careful what one wishes for.
I'm afraid we're heading down a road that will once again test the mettle of this nation.
However, those of us who served on active duty know that official titles are used on documentation, articles, etc. Those of us who have met North know that he does not refer to himself as a retired Colonel. Those of us who served on active duty with Marines who served with North or with North himself know that North would not have been selected for Colonel even if Iran Contra had not occurred; read The Nightingale's Song if you doubt me. North was not held in high regard by the powers that be at HQMC. Very few if any people who contemplate committing suicide and then are hospitalized as suicide risks, like North, get selected for Colonel. That's a red flag in an OQR. North had numerous red flags in his OQR and if you had the opportunity to read his fitreps you'd realize that. If you had served a single day in the Marine Corps on active duty you'd realize that. If you had served a single day in the Marine Corps then you'd understand what attention to detail is all about. It's quite obvious that you did not.
To put this explanation into terms that you'll be able to comprehend, pound sand puke.
This is important to note. I read the Time article the other day and was personally surprised at how benign the interrogation techniques were.
We have no way of knowing whether you served or not. I know one thing for sure. Just about every post you enter is a red flag. I'm glad you have FREEP to channel your anger, hostility, and insecurities.
Congressman Duncan Hunter is a strong proponent of fighting to secure the U.S. border, too.
Duncan Hunter for President 2008!
bttt
Journalists are spies is absolutely correct. And our military is not a social project like the Democrats want it to be.
I hate to say it, and it's an unpopular thought, however I feel the quickest way to stop the Democrats from meddling in military operations is to bring back the draft.
Arab Muslim/Islamic terrorism responds to Dick Durbin:
What is a fifth columnist?
A FOIA request, which you are free, as well as highly encouraged, to make, will confirm my military service. Would a FOIA request confirm that you're a pogue?
The "angry vet" routine is getting old. Get a grip.
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