"20th hijacker" blows up torture argument

Most Americans don't know the name of Mohammed al Qahtani, the so-called "20th hijacker" who was snagged at the Orlando International Airport in 2001 before he could have allegedly taken part in the 9/11 attacks. However, I suspect the story is known better here in Philadelphia than anywhere else, since the most popular local radio talker, Michael Smerconish, has undertaken taken a campaign to recognize the heroism of the agent who nabbed him. a man named Jose Melendez-Perez.

Smerconish is big on the war on terror, and he also is a prominent advocate for torture. Not "enhanced interrogation," but torture, as spelled out in his 2005 blog post called..."In Support of Torture."...

Meanwhile, al-Qahtani -- a seeming poster child for al-Qaeda terrorism against the United States -- has never been brought to justice, despite nearly seven years in custody, most of those at Guantanamo Bay. And now there are questions over whether he will ever be tried...

What happened? It's not clear, but there is increasing evidence that the prosecution of Mohammed al-Qahtani has been fouled up beyond repair...because he was tortured at Gitmo...