Obama should be asked about the fact that Abdulmutallab was talking, and revealing a great deal, until he was treated as an ordinary criminal suspect and told that he had a right to remain silent.
“AP Exclusive: Feds detail Christmas Day attack,” by Devlin Barrett for the Associated Press, January 24 (thanks to Choi):
WASHINGTON – For hours after allegedly trying to use a bomb hidden in his underwear to blow up a Christmas Day flight to Detroit, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab talked and talked — to Customs officers, medical personnel, and FBI agents.
He spoke openly about what he’d done and why, and provided valuable intelligence, U.S. officials told The Associated Press in a series of interviews that spell out for the first time the details of Abdulmutallab’s arrest and questioning on Dec. 25. […]
The bomb had severely burned Abdulmutallab but he was still conscious. As he was taken from the scene, federal agents repeatedly interviewed him or heard him speak to others. But when they read him his legal rights nearly 10 hours after the incident, he went silent. […]
The suspect spoke openly, said one official, talking in detail about what he’d done and the planning that went into the attack. Other counterterrorism officials speaking on condition of anonymity said it was during this questioning that he admitted he had been trained and instructed in the plot by al-Qaida operatives in Yemen. […]
While the Miranda warning — based on a 1966 Supreme Court ruling — is a bedrock principle of the U.S. justice system and a staple of television cop shows, there is a major exception which could apply in Abdulmutallab’s case.
Investigators are allowed to question a suspect without providing a Miranda warning if they are trying to end a threat to public safety. […]