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What it’s like to interrogate terrorists
Remember when successful people in various fields would come to address your high school assembly from time to time about their professions, to give students an idea of what different careers were like? Here’s a profession none of us ever heard about in one of those speeches: interrogator of terrorists. An interview with Michael Koubi, former chief interrogator for Shin Bet, Israel’s security service.
What does this subject have to do with traditionalist conservatism, you may wonder. It concerns the kinds of things a nation may have to do and the kinds of skills it may have to develop in order to defend itself and survive. If the nation in question is dealing with Moslem terrorists, change the subjunctive mood in the last sentence to the indicative. Comments
A tiny country like Israel produces astoundingly well-educated people like Mr. Koubi. A country of 240 million cannot produce a President able to express himself convincingly. American schools should be shut down and replaced with private institutions dedicated to rigorous training in all subjects. Any government involvement in education should be similar to a military experience, where the goal is the well-being and security of the country. Today, young men often enter the military to get educated, since most of our schools are a waste of time, if not a set-back. Periodically, we “wake up”. For example, after Sputnik there was a sudden flurry of reforms in science education. After 9/11 we realized we had no people who could translate or speak Arabic. But we always go back to sleep. In my experience, I found that Americans are much more interested in school as a social gathering place than they are in the rigor and tedium of difficult mental activity. Somebody (private? government?) has to start a parallel school system. Religious schools are sometimes a decent alternative, but I can’t imagine them producing a man such as Michael Koubi. The irony is the worse our schools are, the more people are encouraged to “stay in school”, as if that will make them smart. They would be much smarter to drop out, in my opinion.
Thanks for the link. For an excellent account on how the US is doing interrogations, please check out “The Interrogators” by Chris Mackey. Well worth your read. Posted by: Arcane on November 23, 2004 9:36 PMIf the idea is we are not supposed to be brutal in our war against Islamic terrorism, then the idea is not a good one. War is hell on earth. Either one engages in it with maximum effort or one keeps out of it. It is also my understanding brutal physical force is not used by America but sleep deprivation and isolation are, which I have no problem with as long it is used solely against terrorists, murderers, thugs, and organized crime members. The nonbrutal methods, or so I hear, are more effective. If experience proves a brutal method is effective, it should be used. I don’t know whether Sherman’s march to the sea was effective, but we should consider it in Iraq or get out. I don’t know whether killing an insurgent’s close family and friends (especially if they are in Iran or Syria) and imprisoning his children would be effective, but we should consider it. I don’t know whether shooting outspoken Muslim clerics abroad would be effective, but we should consider it. I don’t know whether assassinating members of Muslim extremist front groups would be effective, but we should consider it. Tactical, neutron nuclear weapons should be considered against countries like Korea and Iran; they need to be warned (but not of our exact method of attack) and if THEY don’t prove to us they are harmless to us, then we use the weapons before they use them. Of course, some things are just sadistic excess, such as beheadings and brutal torture. They only anger the opposition and make them fight to the death. |