The Coffeespy

From an Early Birded op-ed in the Wall Street Journal:

CBS’s hit series “Criminal Minds” recently aired an episode entitled “Lessons Learned,” where FBI agents traveled to Guantanamo Bay and coaxed a confession from a known terrorist detainee that led to the prevention of an anthrax attack on a Northern Virginia shopping mall. The point of the story was that the regular interrogation tactics (pictured as brutal assaults on the prisoner) were not working, and that the military should adopt the enlightened methods of the crack interrogators from “Criminal Minds.”

Having served as an Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps officer in Gitmo, a legal adviser to criminal investigators pursuing leads in the war on terror, and a Military Commissions prosecutor, I have first-hand knowledge and experience about what happens there. And here is the ironic truth: The military has outlawed some of the “Criminal Minds” interrogators’ tactics — in response to pressure by the international community.

On TV, an analyst observed the detainee’s behavior from an adjoining room behind two-way glass for revealing body movements and language. Subtle movements and body language signaled which statements were true and which were false, leading to a breakthrough that saved lives. In reality, when such a tactic was used at Gitmo the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) called it “torture.” Gitmo authorities used to employ Behavior Science Consultation Teams (BSCTs, pronounced “biscuits”), trained psychologists/psychiatrists who did exactly what the TV analyst did: used psychology to help interrogators learn the truth. But the ICRC considered their role in planning and assisting with interrogations “a flagrant violation of medical ethics.” The military responded by curtailing the role of BSCTs.

On TV, CIA and FBI interrogators used the detainee’s religion to gain leverage. The CIA interrogators refused to allow the detainee to pray; then the FBI allowed the prayers but adjusted them to manipulate the detainee’s sense of time. Because of the manipulation, the detainee admitted responsibility for an attack that he incorrectly believed had already occurred, allowing the attack to be thwarted. In reality, the U.S. does not manipulate detainee’s religious practices. In Gitmo, everything stops, including interrogations, so detainees can pray. The Islamic call to prayer is broadcast, several times a day, over loudspeakers. Everyone in and around the detention camp is forced to listen.

On TV, the interrogators give the detainee a prayer mat and point out the direction to Mecca to win his gratitude. In reality, the U.S. gives religious items such as prayer mats, prayer caps, prayer oil, prayer beads and Qurans to all detainees. They don’t need anyone to point out the direction of Mecca because the U.S. paints black arrows on the ground pointing toward Mecca in every cell and around the camp.

In fact, at Camp Bucca, a U.S.-run detention camp in Iraq, the U.S. erected a tent as a makeshift mosque and designated it off-limits to prison guards so that detainees could pray in solitude. The detainees used their privacy to turn the “mosque” into a weapons cache, and then attacked the prison guards. This led to a battle for control of the camp that lasted four days.

Despite the debacle at Camp Bucca, the military still designates some items (such as the Quran) as “off-limits” to prison guards, even though detainees misuse the Quran to conceal illegal contraband, including prescription pills. U.S. forces in Gitmo go to these great lengths despite the fact that the Geneva Conventions provide for POWs to practice their religion only “on condition that they comply with the disciplinary routine prescribed by military authorities.”

On “Criminal Minds,” the detainee glanced toward bottles of water lining a table, and said, “They line it up to show what I cannot have.” In reality, detainees at Gitmo receive ample food and water, including Halal meals and imported seasonal fruits and nuts from their native countries for special occasions.

While the crime show’s creators must resort to fiction to depict interrogations, they don’t have to fictionalize the contempt that most detainees show for Americans. Hollywood gets that part right. On TV, the fictional detainee said of killing innocent Americans: “There is no such thing, they were infidels . . . they hurt me by existing! The infidels will fall at the hands of the righteous, and that is when the jihad will end.”

In reality, according to Gitmo’s Web site, one detainee said, “The people who died on 9/11/2001 were not innocent . . . my group will shake up the U.S. and the countries who follow the U.S.” Another told military police officers that he would “come to their homes and cut their throats like sheep.” Yet another detainee threatened, “I will arrange for the kidnapping and execution of U.S. citizens living in Saudi Arabia. Small groups of four of five U.S. citizens will be kidnapped, held and executed. They will have their heads cut off.” These real statements make one thing clear: life in Gitmo has not broken the detainees’ spirits.

Hollywood sets unrealistic expectations for many things. The “Criminal Minds” episode represents one instance where truth is tamer, and many would argue stranger, than fiction.

I didn’t have time to read and research anything.  But here’s Rosie O’Donnell explaining that you should get your news from foreign sources, Americans are brainwashed by the company that employs her, and Tower 7 was probably an inside job.  Via Instapundit and Hot Air:

A ROSIE O’DONNELL MELTDOWN: “I’m not exaggerating when I say that this is the video against which all future Rosie clips will be compared.”

Is Rosie representative of the mainstream left?  Perhaps it’s just because I blog, read blogs, and read the news that I’m starting to think Rosie isn’t far left, but really a mainstream lefty.  It all just seems so ‘party-line’ anymore.  Everything’s a conspiracy or scandal.  Nobody is more corrupt than America.  Calling someone good or evil is wrong.

Yech.  What the hell’s going on?

Actor-vists Sean Penn, Danny Glover, Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins were joined by an old hand at grandstanding for causes not understood by the grandstander:

FOR HER next act, Jane Fonda has entered the fight against the Iraq war.

Towards the end of Saturday’s anti-war rally Fonda stood onstage with the Capitol behind her and addressed the tens of thousands of protesters. “I haven’t spoken at an anti-war rally in 34 years,” she said. But “silence is no longer an option”.

Silence is always an option, and one only the wise exercise.  You’ll remember Fonda from such hits as “American POWs aren’t tortured in North Vietnam” and “U.S. soldiers are war criminals.”  You’ll remember Fonda lipped a much publicized apology for having her picture taken behind a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun in 2005, when her latest movie happened to be screening.  What you may not remember is the end bit to that series of carefully worded “I need some credibility back” press tours:

“Both sides were using the POWs for propaganda.  It’s not something I will apologize for.”

Ah, so she regrets taking a bad picture…

Snopes.com has the full story complete with sources for all self-rightous, self-important, empty-headed Fonda fare including several apologies over the years for, well, you can decide what for.

Before today, I lumped Sarandon and crew into that group of mentally lazy actors believing their fortunes gave them the right to have their opinions heard.  Now I see they’re dangerously out of touch.  They forget that there are two sides in a conflict: those who attack and those who resist.  The insurgents are resisting a free Iraq.  That’s something these actor-vists can’t get behind because they have no idea what it’s like to fight for anything other than a leading role.

• The Crazy Politico believes Fonda’s wearing political dentures.  Personally, I think she ‘bites.’
• I can only assume Onegoodmove forgets that Jane was not only an anti-war activist, but an active North Vietnamese supporter when they say, “Welcome back Jane, and thanks; your voice still rings true.”  Did it ‘ring true’ when she said U.S. soldiers weren’t tortured in the North?  I suspect the only ‘ringing’ that was heard had to do with the Bells of Meme.
• Blue Star Chronicles doesn’t pull punches and actually has full Fonda quotes rather than the pared down version the Post used.  Speculate on WaPo’s motives yourself.
• Little Green Footballs has pictures of other parts of the rally.  At first I thought maybe the celebrities drew the focus from those who may actually have something substantial to say, but after seeing the ‘giant duck of peace’ I’m really doubting there was any meaningful discourse to be had.

Note: The ‘news story’ claims that the Hanoi Jane moniker was what “conservatives” called Fonda.  In fact, that’s what a majority of Americans called Fonda in the years after we realized what a disservice we had done to your soldiers in that conflict.  That’s not a “conservative” label by any means.