May 29, 2009, - 3:40 pm
“Torture Doesn’t Work”: An ICE Agent Who Needs to Shut Up & Work; Abu Moskowitz’s Tool
By Debbie Schlussel
Meet Kenneth Duke. He’s the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) resident agent in charge of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
While you would think that ICE agents are consumed with the millions of illegal aliens still in our midst and customs smuggling issues regarding the transfer of weapons and technology from America to terrorists and parties like Iran, in Kenneth Duke’s case, he’s apparently got those problems licked.
You see, he’s got so much time on his hands now that he’s solved all immigration and customs issues in Western Michigan, that he’s speaking out to newspapers to tell them that “torture” of terrorists in interrogations doesn’t work.
ICE’s Kenneth Duke & Boss Abu Moskowitz Speak Out
Against “Torturing” Terrorists
So, what exactly does torturing terrorists have to do with ICE?, you ask. Good question. Answer: It has absolutely NOTHING to do with the mission and/or functions of the agency charged with enforcing our nation’s immigration and customs laws.
But, since he now feels he’s an expert, Special Agent Duke decided to stick his nose into the issue and get some press coverage. After all, with the Obama release of selected interrogation memos and Dick Cheney and his daughter rightfully blasting Obama on this issue, it’s hot. And why not have an ICE agent opine on this issue, because clearly that is what we need our immigration bureaucrats doing.
Desk jockey Duke apparently thinks he has some special expertise in torture methods in interrogation because in April of last year, he volunteered to go to Iraq to help investigate and dismantle the financing Al-Qaeda uses to obtain weapons, build bombs and recruit homicide bombers there. Clearly, Agent Duke wasn’t totally successful in that mission, since Al-Qaeda is still successfully committing homicide bombings and killings there on a regular basis.
But Duke wants us to know that he’s never seen torture used successfully. Really? Does this mean he saw other members of his team torture suspected terrorists or that he himself did it? Did he file a report, telling higher-up authorities about this torture he claims to have witnessed? Was Duke present at the alleged “torture” a/k/a waterboarding that we used as an enhanced interrogation technique on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed? Is he aware of the intelligence on planned terror plots that we got from KSM?
It’s a sure bet that the answer to all of these rhetorical questions is a solid “NO.” I don’t believe Duke saw anyone torturing suspects. ICE simply isn’t involved in that kind of thing. It’s sad that the former U.S. Customs Service Office of Investigation, which is now part of ICE, no longer is involved in investigating and stopping terrorists financing, which it did so well under “Operation Greenquest.” However, Customs never tortured suspects and informants to get that info. That’s not the business they were in.
Duke even admits he saw none of this:
“There was absolutely no waterboarding that I was aware of.”
Duke is convinced other approaches are more reliable.
“There was no physical touching. Every once in a while, you might ratchet it up to where you would raise your voice.”
So, basically, he doesn’t know what the heck he’s talking about. And he needs to shut the heck up.
The real experts, not ICE or former Customs agents, but the military guys who interrogated KSM, Abu Zubaydah, and others, know what works. Yes, they are the experts, not an ICE agent who went to Iraq for a brief period of time and didn’t stop the flow of terror money.
While it is true–and I’ve heard it from many a successful ICE agent–that informants respond best when they are treated well by their handlers (as Duke asserts in The Grand Rapids Press), the people with whom the U.S. used enhanced interrogation methods are top terrorist masterminds who are smarter than that. They’re not your average ICE Arab Muslim street informant turning in his friends who sell ecstasy in Detroit. People like KSM don’t spill upon receiving a nice meal, a few bucks, and some compliments from an American male with a gun and a badge.
So why is Special Agent Kenneth Duke speaking out, to the media, against torturing terrorists, something clearly outside his purview and job description?
Well, any ICE agent can’t just speak to the press. These interviews are supposed to be carefully screened through the ICE Public Affairs Officer. And while Brian M. Moskowitz a/k/a “Abu Moskowitz,” ICE’s Michigan/Ohio Special Agent in Charge and Agent Duke’s boss (more about Abu M here), often violated that rule and leaked confidential information and stories to the press, none of the agents he oversees are allowed to do that. And this interview was done with Moskowitz’s full knowledge and sanction. He’s even quoted in The Grand Rapids Press article, praising his agent, Duke.
Why is Abu Moskowitz encouraging his agents to speak to the press about an issue that has nothing to do with ICE?
Well, Moskowitz is a liberal who desperately wants to run ICE or get a top job in the agency’s Washington Headquarters. In the past, as I’ve noted on this site, he’s also publicly defended the INS kidnapping of Elian Gonzalez from his cousins’ house in Miami.
Apparently, Abu Moskowitz–always a bridesmaid and never a bride–believes that if he kisses some Obama ass (the way he’s been kissing Muslim ass for years), he’ll get ahead. By having his agents speak out on issues important to BHO, like alleged torture of terrorists, and showing Barack a little love during this hot national debate, he’ll get in the good graces of the Obama-niks and their new chosen ICE Sheikh, John Morton.
Moskowitz is already the favorite boy tool of his boss, Marcy M. Forman-Friedman a/k/a “Peppermint Patty,” ICE’s Director of Investigations. She even chose Moskowitz to come to Washington and represent all ICE Special Agents in Charge at an awards ceremony, during which Attorney General Eric “Americans are Cowards” Holder gave ICE a $100,000 award for its “achievement” in protecting crime victim’s rights. (That’s funny, since the victims of illegal immigration are all Americans, and ICE hasn’t protected us much lately.)
But Moskowitz’s protector, Forman-Friedman, is not long for her position as his boss. And he needs a new way to get ahead.
Apparently that new way is having his top agent bureaucrats say stupid things to newspapers while illegal aliens continue to roam free.
Par for the course in the world according to Abu Moskowitz. Well past time for him and his bureaucrats to shut up and get to work.
So wait, you ARE pro-torture Debbie?
Weren’t you the one who posted video recently of that guy from UAE torturing the farmer who owed him money? I’ll assume a correction from you is being drafted right now on that article. After all, if the U.S. does it and it’s a “technique”, but you describe that guy’s actions as sadistic and barbaric, you’ll need to clarify.
And while you’re at it, how about drafting a post calling for the U.S. to withdraw from the Geneva Conventions as well? How can we maintain a treaty where we will be creating exceptions for ourselves whenever we feel like it?
Frankly, I’m shocked. The British never needed to resort to torture to extract high value information from the Nazi’s. In the face of the worst barbarians in human history, we did not sink to their level. But now somehow you think there is an exception? Maybe the show ’24’, as much as you claim you hate it, had a subliminal effect on you. Because that’s the place where the ‘ticking time bomb’ scenarios exist: In the world of Jack Bauer.
SanDiegoDave on May 29, 2009 at 5:11 pm