On today's edition of Fox News' Glenn Beck, Fox regular Zuhdi Jasser suggested that waterboarding was the “moral” because “we got bin Laden with it.” Although Fox has recently trumpeted the use of enhanced interrogation techniques, Mr. Jasser has moved Fox's conversation on EITs to a new level by suggesting that waterboarding detainees was the “moral” thing for the United States to do. From the May 10 edition of Fox News' Glenn Beck:
BOLLING (guest host): Before I lose the segment here, Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, the head of the CIA, Leon Panetta, point blank said that waterboarding was one of the techniques used and it aided in the capture of bin Laden. Any questions?
ZUHDI JASSER (guest): No, I mean ultimately we have to realize that the Judeo-Christian and in Islam we believe that there is just war. Unless you are a pacifist, you have to believe that ultimately targeting individuals, morality is going to win over evil by the use of some force and coercion as transparently necessary. We're transparent with it and I think it was moral. We got bin Laden with it and ultimately we just have to be transparent and clear about it but to say that we are not going to use it at all is naïve as the
Zuhdi Jasser is the Chairman of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy and a board member of the Clarion Group, which promotes the debunked claim that "[a]ccording to Muslim estimates, up to 80 percent of mosques in the U.S. are owned, operated and led by Wahhabis." Jasser has also previously stated that most U.S. Muslim groups are “soaking up the attention with civil rights issues, victimology,” not “fixing the problem.” In addition, Jasser promoted Rep. Peter King's (R-NY) anti-Muslim hearings on Fox News (and later was King's star witness). And let us not forget the time that Jasser sat on a panel with anti-Muslim activist Joel Richardson as he essentially declared that a peaceful view of Islam is unorthodox in the Muslim community and that Muslims wish to be united under an Antichrist who will kill Jews.
Jasser did not explain exactly why waterboarding was moral, saying only that the “use of some force and coercion” is “transparently necessary.” However, accepting that “some force and coercion” is necessary, does that really mean that waterboarding is necessary?
National security experts dispute whether waterboarding was necessary to get bin Laden, but Jasser's response is to dismiss anyone who argues that we should not waterboard as “naïve.”
It seems we cannot trust Jasser to conduct an honest discussion of interrogation issues any more than we can trust him to discuss issues involving Islam and terrorism.