Quick Fact: IBD advances dubious claim that Abdulmutallab stopped cooperating after being read Miranda rights
An Investor's Business Daily editorial claimed that the Obama administration allowed Northwest Airlines bombing suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to "clam up" by "reading him his Miranda rights." But numerous news outlets have reported that according to federal officials, federal agents decided to give Abdulmutallab a Miranda warning after he had already stopped cooperating.
IBD: Obama administration read Abdulmutallab his Miranda rights, "allowing him to clam up"
From a February 3 Investor's Business Daily editorial:
The administration boasts that Undiebomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is now "cooperating" -- as if they didn't blow the chance for a treasure trove of lifesaving information from him about al-Qaida's structure and future plots by reading him his Miranda rights, getting him a lawyer, and allowing him to clam up less than an hour after being detained.
But federal officials reportedly claim Abdulmutallab stopped cooperating before he was read Miranda rights
Washington Post: "New details" suggest Abdulmutallab "clammed up even before he was informed of his right to remain silent." A January 29 Washington Post article reported that "new details" suggest Abdulmutallab "clammed up even before he was informed of his right to remain silent." From the article:
But new details complicate that narrative, suggesting that Abdulmutallab, 23, clammed up even before he was informed of his right to remain silent -- a warning that could have come later had he been placed in military custody. He continued to speak to authorities before undergoing treatment for second- and third-degree burns below the waist that occurred during a bid to detonate explosives on Northwest Flight 253.
[...]
During a 50-minute interrogation, another federal source said, Abdulmutallab provided the FBI with key information, including where he was trained for the operation and who gave him nearly 80 grams of PETN, a volatile chemical often employed by the military.
The early FBI interrogation was "quite valuable," said National Counterterrorism Center chief Michael E. Leiter, testifying before the House Homeland Security Committee this week. While the conversations continued, FBI and Justice Department officials discussed whether and how the suspect should be informed of his right to remain silent, but no Miranda warnings were given during the early questioning.
Medical personnel wheeled in Abdulmutallab for treatment later in the afternoon of Dec. 25. About 5 p.m., White House counterterrorism adviser John O. Brennan chaired a videoconference with intelligence community representatives.
Agents again visited Abdulmutallab about 9 p.m., finding him more combative and allegedly citing jihadist intentions. He asked for a lawyer. FBI agents then read him his rights. Abdulmutallab was charged in a criminal complaint the next day, after a meeting of the president's national security team in which the Justice Department outlined its approach.
LA Times: Abdulmutallab "stopped cooperating," and "it was then that agents advised him of his Miranda rights." Similarly, a February 3 Los Angeles Times article reported: "He talked to agents for about 50 minutes on the day of his arrest. Doctors interrupted the interrogation to sedate him and treat his injuries. When Abdulmutallab awakened, he stopped cooperating, officials said, and it was then that agents advised him of his Miranda rights against self-incrimination."
Reuters: Abdulmutallab "stopped cooperating and he was then read" Miranda rights. A February 3 Reuters article stated: "The Obama administration has been criticized by Republicans and Democrats because Abdulmutallab was interviewed by FBI agents for about an hour before he stopped cooperating and he was then read his so-called Miranda rights, providing him full U.S. constitutional legal protections."
It seems to me, in the end, we got the intel we needed without trampling the values we hold dear.
People who want to trample the constitution because they're scared is quite troubling.
As for the idiot idea that he should have been tortured at that point, it's a simple fact that it would probably have produced less reliable information. People will say anything to get torture to stop. Therefore, information gained from it is automatically suspect. there is no reason NOT to give bad information. However, when there is a reason for them to give good information, as in this case, they are much more likely to do so. They are offered a benefit (no death penalty) that will be withdrawn if the information they give is bad.
Torture only satisfies the emotional taste for bloodlust and revenge. Other means are better for obtaining good intelligence.
Why isn't the Post, NYT, and other MSM reporting this truth:
This was a spooky ploy, and NO media other than WSWS is saying boo about the truth behind the facade.
"A January 27 hearing of the House Committee on Homeland Security established that US intelligence agencies stopped the State Department from revoking the US visa of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. The Nigerian student, whom US officials suspected of being affiliated with the Yemeni terrorist group Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, attempted to set off a bomb on Northwest Flight 253 into Detroit on Christmas Day. Revocation of Abdulmutallab’s visa would have prevented him from boarding the airplane."
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/feb2010/f253-f03.shtml
The MSM should be ashamed of not reporting this.
Alan MacDonald
Sanford, Maine
This link is the complete link to WSWS report --- sorry for previous shortened link.
"The revelation that US intelligence agencies made a deliberate decision to allow Abdulmutallab to board the commercial flight, without any special airport screening, has been buried in the media. As of this writing, nearly a week after the hearing, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times have published no articles on the subject. Nor have the broadcast or cable media reported on it."
"Under questioning by the committee chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, Kennedy [State Dept Under Sect.] explained why the State Department might not revoke the US visa of a suspected terrorist: “We will revoke the visa of any individual who is a threat to the United States, but we do take one preliminary step. We ask our law enforcement and intelligence community partners, ‘Do you have eyes on this person and do you want us to let this person proceed under your surveillance so that you may potentially break a larger plot?’”
He added: “And one of the members [of the intelligence community]—and we’d be glad to give you that out of [open session]—in private—said, ‘Please, do not revoke this visa. We have eyes on this person. We are following this person who has the visa for the purpose of trying to roll up an entire network, not just stop one person.’”