1115.org

The President has told us enough times (unless he was only desperately talking to himself): we don’t torture people. The question has always been: “If we don’t torture, then what exactly is it that we do?”

“Practice enhanced interrogation techniques designed to save the free world” used to be one answer. We now have another one: we only abuse detainees to the point that even those we suspect of being the 20th 9/11 hijacker cannot be brought to justice:

U.S. authorities have long considered Mohammed al-Qahtani one of the most dangerous alleged terrorists in U.S. custody, a man who could have been the 20th hijacker in the Sept. 11, 2001, plot if he had not been denied entry into the country.

But yesterday, amid concerns about using information obtained during abusive military interrogations, a top Pentagon official removed Qahtani from the military commission case meant to bring justice to those behind the vast Sept. 11 conspiracy.

Susan J. Crawford, the appointed official who decides which cases will be heard in the largely untested commission process, dismissed the charges against Qahtani while affirming those against five other alleged terrorists to stand trial at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Prosecutors reserve the right to charge Qahtani again, and the military says it can hold him without trial for the duration of the counterterrorism wars. But his defense lawyers and officials familiar with the case say it is unlikely that Qahtani will face new charges because he was subjected to aggressive Defense Department interrogation techniques — such as intimidation by dogs, hooding, nudity, long-term isolation and stress positions.

Those techniques were later rescinded because of concerns about their legality. In 2005, an official military investigation concluded that Qahtani’s interrogation regimen amounted to abuse.

Or maybe the problem wasn’t that Qahtani was subjected to torture-by-any-other-name that seems to have driven him insane? Maybe the problem was that we had no other evidence against him other than what we beat out of him?

Officials close to the case said Crawford’s office was reluctant to sanction the charges against Qahtani because prosecutors had little evidence against him outside of his own coerced confessions, a point that most certainly would have become a central issue at trial.

“Their case was only based on evidence derived from torture,” said Army Lt. Col. Bryan Broyles, who represents Qahtani. “In six-plus years, the evidence comes down to what they beat out of him. The prosecution evidence was entirely unreliable and inadmissible.”

And so what if we don’t bring Qahtani to trial? We still propose to hold him forever and a day.

Meanwhile, you’ll be pleased to know that Crawford did not drop charges against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed:

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks, and four others were referred for trial by a special military commission on capital charges of murder, terrorism and other war crimes, it said.

Apparently, waterboarding — which is universally acknowledged to constitute torture, except by Bush, Laura, Barney and devotees thereof — does not interfere with prosecution. We still get to see KSM on trial. Unless, of course, something else comes along — perhaps after November — to derail his trial. I’m not saying, it will, of course. That would be a thoroughly irresponsible thing to say. Unpatriotic, to boot. Especially if you’re not the kind of American who wears a flag pin on her lapel (and I very much fear I’m not). No, I’m only saying that if you have $20 you care to put at risk, I’m taking bets once again: KSM will never come to trial. Or if a trial starts, it will be canceled until further notice well before it’s over.