American policy:
President Bush:
Throughout the Bush administration, the method of choice for dealing
with senior al-Qaeda operatives was to track them down, capture them and
transport them to a CIA secret prison, known as a "black site". Some
were subjected to "enhanced interrogation techniques" such as
waterboarding, widely regarded as torture.
President Obama:
Under Mr Obama, drone strikes in Pakistan have increased dramatically,
resulting in dead suspects, civilian casualties and fewer prisoners to
interrogate.
Terrorists who would have been captured under Mr Bush so that every last
morsel of information could be wrung out of them have been sent straight
to their maker under Mr Obama.
Most — but not all — leftists are fine with this change in policy. Most
leftists believe that it is very wrong to dunk a terorist in water, but
that it is okay to shoot the same man, without holding a trial first.
Whatever you may think of that ethical position, it is obvious that the
Obama policy has practical disadvantages. It is almost always better to
capture a terrorist than kill him, because you can, in time, almost
always get him to reveal some secrets.
(FWIW: Harnden quotes an unidentified Navy Seal saying that it would
have been easier to capture bin Laden than to kill him.)
- 6:24 AM, 9 May 2011 [link]
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