Some terrorism defendants make interrogations easy, prosecutors say
Some terrorism defendants tried in civilian courts say they talked to investigators because of fears of torture or abusive interrogations.
And others appear to talk because they are proud of their crimes, or because they are not raised in a system where the right to remain silent is widely accepted, the New York Times reports. Time and again, the newspaper says, terrorism suspects incriminate themselves and disclose valuable intelligence.
One suspect who “offered a trove of information” was Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law, the Times says. According to an FBI summary of his interrogation, he waived his rights and told interrogators, “You will hear things of al-Qaida that you never imagined.” He was sentenced to life in prison last month for a conspiracy to kill Americans.
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara of Manhattan confirmed in an interview with the Times this summer that terrorism suspects are often quite willing to talk with interrogators.
“It is counterintuitive—and I understand that,” Bharara said, “that people one morning want to do everything they can to kill everyone who looks like an American, and destroy cities, and in some cases, prepare to engage in suicide missions or help others engage in suicide missions, and then the next afternoon, when caught, snitch on their plans, snitch on their colleagues, snitch on intelligence that otherwise would have been unavailable to the very same people that they were dedicated to killing.”
