U.S. compromises operations to notify families of captured terrorists

President Obama wants to “lift the veil” on America’s remaining overseas prisons. He’s directed the military to release the identities of terrorists and other militants who are held in Special Operations detention camps in Iraq and another in Afghanistan. Now the Red Cross will be able to track the custody of the most dangerous terrorists and foreign fighters captured in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Unfortunately, the new transparency’s cost might be measured in American lives, as the New York Times brings out:

The military had previously insisted that disclosing any details about detainees at the secretive camps could tip off other militants and jeopardize counterterrorism missions. …Under Pentagon rules, detainees at the Special Operations camps can be held for up to two weeks. Formerly, the military at that point had to release a detainee; transfer him to a long-term prison in Iraq or Afghanistan, to which the Red Cross has broad access; or seek one-week renewable extensions from Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates or his representative.Under the new policy, the military must notify the Red Cross of the detainees’ names and identification numbers within two weeks of capture, a notification that before happened only after a detainee was transferred to a long-term prison. The option to seek custody extensions has been eliminated, a senior Pentagon official said.

Although some pentagon officials sought to play down the significance of the shift, the implications are obvious. Sahr Muhammed Ally, a senior associate for law and security at Human Rights First, an advocacy group, says, “Any improvement in [International Committee of the Red Cross] notification and access is a positive development because it not only accounts for the whereabouts of a person, but hopefully will expedite notification to the family who is left anxious wondering about the fate of his or her relative” (emphasis mine).

By allowing the notification of the families of captured terrorists, the U.S. military is also notifying the terrorist networks that they may have been compromised. The military might as well run advertisements saying, “We caught your guy, and we are getting information from him, so you might as well as change your plans before we intercept you.”

In case you feel like these camps are terrible places of torture, the Times reports:

In a classified report dated June 17, General [Philip] Breedlove largely praised the conditions at the camps. He found only minor problems, including a failure to provide a Koran to each detainee, and a lack of arrows or other symbols indicating which direction Muslim prisoners should face to pray toward Mecca.

Such feeble-minded policies provide fresh evidence supporting the forecast Gerald Flurry made in his Personal back in November 2003: America isn’t going to win the war on terror.