While the usual folks are going apoplectic about the lack of testosterone-boosting torture of the Christmas Day airline bomber, it turns out the old-school, non-medieval approach is apparently working out extremely well. From the New York Times:
“With the family, the F.B.I. approached the suspect,” the senior administration official said, speaking to reporters at the White House on the condition of anonymity because of the pending legal case. “He has been cooperating for days.”
… After meeting with Mr. Abdulmutallab for several days, the official said, the family members persuaded him to talk to investigators.
… Another federal official said Mr. Abdulmutallab had provided information about people he met in Yemen, where he is believed to have receiving training and explosives from Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a branch of the terrorist network.
“He’s retracing his activities over there,” said the official, who would discuss the case only on the condition of anonymity. “You run to ground what he tells you, validate it and follow up. You build a relationship. It’s a pretty standard process.”
It may not make the proponents of torture feel the wonders of self-validation and it may not read like a movie plot, but it's apparently working. (Though these inherently unverifiable leaks by "senior administration officials" are pretty annoying things, regardless of the info they deliver.) Hard to argue that the unreliable information produced by illegal torture would be preferable to verifiable info like this, but I'm sure someone will make the case anyway. Probably Dick Cheney.
ALSO:
Excellent Onion headline–
Supreme Court Allows Corporations To Run For Political Office
…Corporate attack ads have already begun to hit the airwaves in New York, where a new Pepsi commercial set to a catchy modern remix of Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin'" blasts incumbent governor David Paterson as "unrefreshing" and urges New Yorkers to "taste the choice of a new generation this Nov. 2."
