Interrogations: Unsettling

Now here’s something to make your scalp tingle. Twice.

Out of the documents being turned over to Congress while looking into the firings of the United States Attorneys comes the news that one of the firings was related, in time at least, to requests by that USA to record all interrogations of all suspects by any federal law enforcement officer — a request which was strongly opposed by representatives of the FBI, the DEA, the ATF, the US Marshall’s service, and more.

Why would these upholders of the law oppose an audio or video recording of their interrogations? Well — it might not look good to a jury!

Law enforcement interrogation techniques (although completely legal) may still be unsettling for some jurors in video and audio form.

See Glen Greenwald at Salon for more. If FBI interrogation techniques of US citizens in US jails might unsettle US jurors, don’t even imagine what Guantanamo, Bagram, the USS Peleliu, interrogations were like. It will be very unsettling.