Washington Post: Silence of 4 Terror Probe Suspects Poses Dilemma. FBI and Justice Department investigators are increasingly frustrated by the silence of jailed suspected associates of Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda network, and some are beginning to that say that traditional civil liberties may have to be cast aside if they are to extract information about the Sept. 11 attacks and terrorist plans.
These suspected associates aren’t U.S. citizens, which is how the authorities can contemplate sending them to places where torture and other “interrogation” methods are used to extract information. It’s a bad idea.
The slippery slope descends from such thinking. If we sanction torture, whether by “allies” or our own police agencies, we will become what we hate.