Patterico's Pontifications

2/3/2010

Maguire on Yglesias on the Underwear Bomber

Filed under: Fiskings,Terrorism — DRJ @ 9:14 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

Tom Maguire fisks Matt Yglesias’ support for the Obama Administration’s handling of the Underwear Bomber. Here’s my favorite part, and note that Maguire’s comments are in regular type and Yglesias’ quotes are in italics:

“Pressing on:

It’s true that as an investigative technique “convince the guy’s family to convince him to cooperate” isn’t quite as bad-ass as “use Khmer Rouge torture tactics against him.” On the other hand, the non-torture way actually produces reliable information.

And Matt knows the intel is reliable because…? People can’t lie when their sainted mum or beloved aunt is in the next room? I don’t know how the reality-based community gleaned this particular fragment of reality.”

More at the link.

— DRJ

18 Responses to “Maguire on Yglesias on the Underwear Bomber”

  1. because his mommy made him post it?

    /just guessing.

    it sure as hell would have been more useful to get whatever data we allegedly got this last week on Christmas Day, when it could have maybe been acted on.

    redc1c4 (fb8750)

  2. Down Goes Yglesias! Down Goes Yglesias!

    I read Maguire’s post earlier. It he smoked him!

    daleyrocks (718861)

  3. someone get him off of him jeez

    happyfeet (713679)

  4. Yglesias and the other hardcore lefties know that this is better because it’s an article of faith with them that “torture” cannot ever produce valid information. So whatever got found this way has to be better, simply because it cannot be worse.

    Steven Den Beste (99cfa1)

  5. Everything Matt Yglesias knows is wrong.

    gp (4c870c)

  6. It is so, for I believe it to be so!

    AD - RtR/OS! (b1d1f9)

  7. One thing will never change about the course of action taken by the Admin. with respect to Abdumutallah — 30+ days.

    That is the time that was lost between his arrest and when he was “persuaded” to begin cooperating through the legal system.

    30+ days.

    No way to know now what was lost.

    The ability to have acted within that time frame can never be recovered.

    I don’t know ANYONE in the business — and I know LOTS — who would be able to suppress a chuckle at the notion that you can learn much from an interrogation in 55 minutes, I don’t care what kind of crime you are investigating.

    shipwreckedcrew (3d3fb8)

  8. He’s had much longer to think through what he’s going to say. subtly tweak his comments for his friends.

    It’s different when he just blew his balls off and is crying to the feds about what he was up to. I suspect that was much more accurate intel. And like others note, a hell of a lot better timing.

    Hard, hard lesson learned. I hope it was learned. Maybe the USA would have forgiven him if a serious attack had occurred. I would have if he was doing his best. But with a series of serious judgment lapses, reversals, unmanned departments and political theatre, no one will forgive Obama if the bad guys pull off a major strike.

    It’s cynical to think someone would care about the political ramification in context of the simple need to protect his homeland.

    Dustin (b54cdc)

  9. Let me add this — an observation soaked in personal experience — the FBI, in many ways, is among the least productive agencies in the federal government when you compare what they accomplish against the resources and manpower they are given.

    They still operate under bureaucratic constraints and outmoded ways of doing work unlike any other federal agency, and do so simply because that was the way Hoover designed it.

    And, in large measure, the management of the FBI is almost PURELY based on volunteerism. This has changed a bit in recent years with the introduction of some merit testing, but prior to about 5-6 years ago the way an Special Agent advanced into supervisory positions was to simply raise their hand and volunteer.

    Agents that did so were transferred to FBI HQ for an 18-24 month period during which they underwent “management training”, learning the vagaries of the bureaucracy that must be mastered to prevent falling into career stagnation.

    After that training they begin to apply for various supervisory spots that are open around the country. The first posting for a new supervisor is usually as a “Squad” supervisor where they might oversee the work of 8-12 field agents.

    At this point they are no longer “working” field agents with active case assignments. They spend their days approving various work product and requests of their squad, and reporting information up the chain of command.

    One byproduct of this system was that many of the “best and brightest” field agents chose to spend their careers as working field agents, whereas many many many supervisors are actually the field agents who weren’t very good at their jobs so they volunteered to go into management.

    The result is that you have some of the worst agents serving as supervisors as some of the best agents. Believe me when I tell you that this creates many moments of high hilarity for those of us on the outside looking in.

    Some of the most boneheaded law enforcement officials I have had to deal with in my career are supervisors in the FBI.

    Deal with that Matt.

    shipwreckedcrew (3d3fb8)

  10. Damn, shipwrecked. I feel safer already.

    Dustin (b54cdc)

  11. i feel so much better having read #9 that i think will shut off the PC and go curl up in a dark corner with a bottle of rum and my 1911A1…..

    announce yourselves loudly and clearly before entering.

    redc1c4 (fb8750)

  12. I do not believe that the human vomit is talking.
    I do not believe anything this administration says.

    Krusher (ceb4ea)

  13. We have over 100K employees in Energy and Education. Let us start there since neither agency produces anything. FBI can wait.

    HeavenSent (ae267e)

  14. I have a family member in the FBI and she was offered an opportunity to learn Arabic. She declined because she said that is a career dead end. It’s a bit like becoming a warrant officer in the army. Once you become a specialist, advancement is not easy.

    Mike K (2cf494)

  15. I’ve noticed several times in the last couple of days that leftists are framing it as: “Not Mirandizing = torture”. Or, as this guy puts it, “Khmer Rouge torture tactics”.

    It’s all about the narrative, baby!

    brobin (c07c20)

  16. Hey, maybe the terrorists have hit on a permanent solution to rape, the exploding implants?

    PCD (1d8b6d)

  17. I’ve noticed several times in the last couple of days that leftists are framing it as: “Not Mirandizing = torture”. Or, as this guy puts it, “Khmer Rouge torture tactics”.

    It’s all about the narrative, baby!

    Comment by brobin

    Damn straight.

    If Obama can’t figure out an alternative to mirandize & silence or Jack Bauer & Kmher Rouge, then he’s not ready to lead.

    They should have been prepared for this, and they simply weren’t. They don’t even know what they will do with gitmo or KSM. They didn’t have the department they wanted to handle caught terrorists.

    If the choice were really between that and a waterboard, most will opt for the latter, but that’s such a false choice.

    Dustin (b54cdc)

  18. I would like to know what Obama promised the “Froot of da Boomber” to get him to talk after he was lawyered up. I wonder if the narcissist in chief offered a Presidential Pardon for the information?

    PCD (1d8b6d)


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