Democrats Unhinged on Waterboarding

The press reported today that President George W. Bush has vetoed Congressional legislation outlawing, among other things, the use of waterboarding by the CIA as an interrogation technique.

Democrats in Congress have argued that the CIA should be limited to the interrogation techniques that the military is limited to in the Army Field Manual, that "torture is a black mark against the United States" (Nancy Pelosi), and that our ability to lead the world depends on morality, not military might (Pelosi again).

President Bush argued in response that the CIA should have a separate and lawful intelligence program, given their different operational needs than the military, and that the use of these programs has saved lives. An argument, in fact echoed by former CIA director George Tenet in his excellent book about the events and aftermath of 9/11.

I have two main thoughts here:

1. Thank God for President Bush who, even in the face of years of withering and unrelenting assaults on his efforts to defend this nation, still stands firm in the committment to fight this war aggressively. He stands firmly on the wall, battling Islamist Jihadists with all the tools at his disposal.

2. This argument over waterboarding in particular highlights why the Democrat leadership is unsuited for leadership in wartime. They are, in my opinion, over their painting our nation as torturers for using this technique against exactly three high-value Al-Qaida terrorists leaders in the timeframe where it was likely that we would be facing another attack on American soil.

Folks, you need to get a grip here. If you are of the opinion that it was eggregious for the CIA to waterboard Khalid Sheik Muhammed in 2003, to get information about other planned Al-Qaida operations against America, you are unhinged.

Do you understand who Khalid Sheik Muhammed is? Really. There is no one on the planet more responsible for the atrocity that was 9/11 than KSM. Not even Osama bin Laden. OBL gave approval and funding for the operation, true. But KSM conceived it, planned it, and was responsible for the execution of 9/11. He and Ramzi Yousef planned how to use airliners to attack targets and kill Americans. He oversaw the selection and training of the attackers. He was the operational commander. And I'm going to feel sorry for the CIA making him uncomfortable in his interrogation?

KSM was captured in Pakistan by the CIA in March of 2003, by daring CIA field officers in an operation in a foreign country carrying great risk. They subjected KSM to interrogation, believing rightly that there were other operations in the planning stage that would kill thousands of Americans if not uncovered and stopped. They needed that information to stop it. We, as Americans, needed for them to get that information. Did they torture and maim KSM, as we understand the term torture? Did they cripple him or dismember him or burn him with irons or hang him and beating him (all techniques found in the Al-Qaida torture manual)?

No, they did not. They "waterboarded" him for a total of two minutes and 30 seconds. No permanent harm, no disfigurement. And KSM spilled his guts. And operations were uncovered and stopped. And thousands of lives were saved. As testified to by CIA officials like George Tenet.

Now, if you want to believe that that 2 1/2 minutes of discomfort that KSM was subjected to by the CIA was unallowable by a civilized nation, even one at war with barbarians who would plan 9/11 and who routinely behead infidels, then I would categorically state that you are in fact unhinged.

Had President Bush, as leader of this nation, failed to, in the wake of 9/11, use all of the tools at his disposal to interrogate captured Al-Qaida leadership and uncover and stop other planned operations against America that would have injured and killed thousands - I would have argued for his impeachment. The fact that he did what he did and ordered what he ordered earns him my gratitude.

But then again, I'm not an unhinged Democrat in the mold of Nancy Pelosi. May she never have the primary responsibility for the defense of this nation.