September 10 All Over Again

Question: What's the quickest way to gain the rights of a United States citizen?

Answer: Attempt to blow up a passenger jet in the cause of jihad.

That's a conclusion one can justifiably reach after reviewing the attempted Christmas Day destruction of Northwest Airlines Flight 253 and its aftermath.

After his capture, the Nigerian Muslim terrorist bragged that similar attacks sponsored by al Qaeda in Yemen were coming. Did the Obama administration drop its political posturing about waterboarding (and its plans to prosecute CIA agents who did so, thwarting other terrorist attacks) and use all necessary means to get vital information out of this thug to save American lives?

No, waterboarding is "torture," you see-never mind that the U.S. military has used this harsh and scary technique to harden its own troops. These anti-waterboarding people assured us that we could use other methods, such as befriending the terrorists during interrogation, to get more reliable intel than that produced under the duress of waterboarding or other rough tactics.

So did the administration at least use these kinder, gentler interrogation techniques? No again-at least not for long. Instead, with its September 10 mindset, the administration is treating this guy as a common criminal, giving him a lawyer, and presumably reading him his Miranda"rights." Presumably he has shut up now, foreclosing any possibility of getting the intel we need-unless he decides to cop a plea.

But why should he do that? Since it is now U.S. policy to ship large numbers of terrorists back to Yemen, perhaps he should just wait for his U.S.-taxpayer-provided return ticket. That makes about as much sense as the current policy.