Political Quotes

“So they have to be treated properly and that sort of thing, but they do not have to be released. We captured, for example, Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai last year for conspiring with bin Ladin to attack U.S. forces in Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Somalia and for his part in the 1998 bombings of two U.S. Embassies in East Africa that killed 224 people before 9/11. He is a treasure trove of intelligence. U.S. forces went in and captured him, took him away at risk of their lives. He had been undergoing interrogation on the USS San Antonio until he said he was sick and not doing well. So what happened? They took him to New York, where he was formally arrested and taken into the custody of the U.S. Justice Department, and put into the civilian justice system. The purpose of capturing him was to get intelligence. This is a warrior. We want to talk to him. We want to see what we can learn about him. Even the New York Times said ``his capture was seen as a potential intelligence coup because he had been on the run for years and so would, presumably, possess information about al Qaeda.'' However, when he appeared in Federal court, he was appointed a lawyer, guaranteed a speedy, public trial--the things that prisoners of war are not entitled to--yet this has been happening over and over again. Al- Ruqai's cooperation ended, leading to a major lost opportunity to obtain valuable intelligence. This evidences a serious lack of understanding of the nature of the conflict we are engaged in.…”