In interrogations. Clearly this is aimed at Qur’an-flushing (as well as at the Abu Ghraib business, as the part of the Jurist article that I didn’t reproduce here makes clear). But will this, vaguely worded as it is, mean that interrogators will not be allowed to probe into the connections prisoners may have with Islamic groups? The reason why this could be the case is that in the public arena, Islamic groups have treated any examination of the elements of Islam that the jihadists use to incite violence and make recruits as “denigration” of Islam. So does this put such examinations off-limits, at least for interrogators? If so, it hamstrings them in trying to determine a great deal about the motives and goals of the people they’re interrogating, as well as in gathering information that could be useful in crafting an effective counter to the jihadists’ ideological challenge.
“Bush signs executive order banning cruel and inhuman treatment in interrogations,” by Mike Rosen-Molina for Jurist (thanks to Doc Washburn):
[JURIST] US President George W. Bush Friday signed [press release] an executive order [text] prohibiting cruel and inhuman treatment during the interrogation of detained terror suspects. The White House did not reveal what specific interrogation techniques were now disallowed, but the order prohibits “acts intended to denigrate the religion, religious practices, or religious objects of the individual”, and “torture” as defined in 18 USC 2340 [text]….