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The Brussels Attacks Were a Terrorist Interrogation Failure

(Washington Post) Marc A. Thiessen - Belgium has some explaining to do for its failure to effectively interrogate a high-value terrorist. Terrorists must be treated differently than common criminals. When Salah Abdeslam, believed to be the logistics chief for an Islamic State terrorist cell, was captured, Belgian officials provided him a lawyer, told him he had the right to remain silent and put him into the Belgian criminal-justice system. Four days later, the terrorist cell carried out bombings in Brussels that killed 35 people - including at least four Americans - and injured hundreds more. Astonishingly, officials did not question Abdeslam for his first 24 hours in custody. The next day he was questioned by authorities for two hours and then was not questioned again until after the attacks. And during those two hours, the Washington Post reported, "investigators did not ask...about his knowledge of future plots." Moreover, Belgian officials compounded that error by holding multiple news conferences in which they bragged about his arrest and boasted how well he was cooperating. This was a fatal mistake. When terrorists learn that one of their comrades is being interrogated, they rapidly begin closing vital trails of intelligence - and in this case, likely accelerated attack plans. The writer is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
2016-03-30 00:00:00
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