Debra Burlingame, a co-founder of the McCarthyist advocacy organization Keep America Safe, has Wall Street Journal op-ed today in which she claims that Amnesty International produced a pamphlet with information about "detainee operations in Iraq" that was "a serious breach of security." As Spencer Ackerman points out, the pamphlet, which is available here, actually just lists documented instances of torture by U.S. personnel and explains why such methods undermine the fight against terrorism.
But hey, let's forget those dirty hippies at Amnesty International for a moment. Let's look to the man who actually reformed detainee operations in Iraq after Abu Ghraib, and what he thinks about such methods, Marine Gen. Doug Stone:
Stone's battlefield was once the detention centers of Iraq, where he worked to reform the system after the Abu Ghraib scandal, reducing recidivism and therefore the flow of fighters to the insurgents. The same thing, he said, needs to happen in Afghanistan, where prison conditions and lack of due process are creating favorable conditions for the Taliban and al-Qaeda to radicalize the imprisoned."What if exactly what we're doing in detention is exactly what the enemy wants?" Stone asked. "Is that not aiding and abetting the enemy?"
Keep America Safe's appeal lies in fear and the perception of retribution against a frightening, amorphous, Muslim "enemy." But as Stone says, it's no way to win a war against terrorists.
I'll end with something else Stone said that Burlingame and her fellow McCarthyites Liz Cheney, Bill Kristol, and Andrew McCarthy might want to consider:
"An individual in an orange jumpsuit in detention, may be an enemy, or may not be an enemy," Stone said. "Just because they're in a jumpsuit, doesn't mean anything."Isn't it amazing how so many people with what Keep America Safe imagine are "traitorous" views also happen to be those who devote their lives to serving their country?
-- A. Serwer
