The Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations Posted by Jeremy Broussard

Days before Iran's release of 15 British prisoners/detainees/hostages/guests, an Iranian "diplomat" held in U.S. custody since he was abducted off the streets of Baghdad in early February was returned to Teheran.  While both the British and American governments claim there was no quid pro quo, the release neatly coincided with the release of the Brits and the U.S. government's agreement to let the Red Cross inspect another group of Iranians "diplomats"--actually suspected members of the Qods Force in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard--held in U.S. custody since a January raid in the Kurdish city of Erbil.

But the individual released, Jalal Sharafi, claims that he was tortured by U.S. personnel, namely the CIA, during his detention.  The U.S., of course, has denied this.

The trouble is that most of the world will accept Mr. Sharafi's accusations on face value because of the terrible record this administration has earned for the treatment of terrorist suspects, be they members of a state organization or not, since 2001.  The administration seemed slow on the uptake that more people than just the American people saw the images of Abu Ghrarib in 2004, the stories of "extraordinary rendition" of terrorist suspects to cooperating nations that will torture suspects, and reports of inhumane treatment at Guantanamo Bay and other "black sites".

Simple administration denials of what appears to very much be happening will not suffice.  The administration's counterterrorism strategy needs to reconsider its methods in its obtaining (or is it extracting . . . like a tooth or fingernail?) good human intelligence on the activity of Iran, Al Qaeda, and other threats in the region, and how these methods will be received when--and it's no longer if--they come out.   

Comments

[Cal]

Jalal Sharafi claims that he was tortured by U.S. personnel, namely the CIA, during his detention. The U.S., of course, has denied this. The trouble is that most of the world will accept Mr. Sharafi's accusations on face value...

Is there anyone naive enough to believe that we didn't torture him? The whole point of kidnapping the Iranians was so that we could extract information from them and roll up their intelligence networks.

In Bush's mind we're already at war with Iran, and by his way of "thinking" the only thing that matters in this fight is toughness and will. Even now he's supporting guerilla attacks against Iran. It's unimaginable that Bush would stop short of torturing suspected Iranian spies.

[Don Bacon]

It's unimaginable that Bush would stop short of torturing suspected Iranian spies or even Americans like Jose Padilla and others.

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