Justice Department spokesperson Tracy Russo has a fact-sheet on terrorism, interrogation, and law enforcement up on the DoJ blog, responding to conservative criticisms over treating terror suspects as criminals:
* L'Houssaine Kherchtou, who was arrested, Mirandized, charged with terrorism offenses, and cooperated with the government, provided critical intelligence on al-Qaeda. He testified in 2001 against four al-Qaeda members who were later sentenced to life in prison after being convicted in connection with the East Africa Embassy bombings.
* After his capture in Afghanistan, John Walker Lindh pleaded guilty in 2002 to supporting the Taliban and, as part of his plea agreement, provided valuable intelligence about training camps and fighting in Afghanistan.
* Mohammed Junaid Babar, arrested in 2004 for supporting al Qaeda and plotting attacks in the United Kingdom, has provided intelligence on terrorist groups operating along the Afghanistan/Pakistan border and has testified in the successful trials of terrorists in the United Kingdom and Canada. He is scheduled to testify in another terrorism trial in New York later this year.
* David Headley, arrested in 2009 and charged in connection with a plot to bomb a Danish newspaper and his alleged role in the November 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, has provided extremely valuable intelligence regarding those attacks, the terrorist organization Lashkar y Tayyiba, and Pakistan-based terrorist leaders.
* Adis Medunjanin, an alleged associate of Najibullah Zazi, was taken into custody in January 2010, and, after waiving his Miranda rights, provided detailed information to the FBI about terrorist-related activities of himself and others in the United States and Pakistan. He has been charged with conspiring to kill U.S. nationals overseas and receiving military-type training from al-Qaeda.
* Other law enforcement cooperators are currently providing important intelligence regarding terrorist activity from East Africa to South Asia and regarding plots to attack the United States and Europe.
Democratic Sens. Jim Webb and Blanche Lincoln recently joined the GOP chorus calling for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the other alleged 9/11 conspirators to be tried by military commission instead of in civilian court. Russo points out that there are currently "more than 300 international or domestic terrorists incarcerated in U.S. federal prison facilities" who have been convicted in civilian court. The military commissions, by contrast, managed to handle only three cases during the entire Bush administration.
-- A. Serwer
