Europe's ECHR Cited “Massively Extenuating Circumstances” in the German Police's Violation of a "Mere" Kidnapping Suspect's Civil Rights

Duncan reminds us of John Rosenthal's report about the American MSM's ignoring of Europe's nod to torture if and when deemed necessary, along with what Rosenthal calls the MSM's (and the Democrats') absurd — and suicidal — logic…

One may well wonder whether the accusers of Donald Rumsfeld and other Pentagon officials would be prepared to acknowledge “massively extenuating circumstances” in their cases [the wording of the European Court of Human Rights regarding the Frankfurt police's response to a suspect in the kidnapping of a German child]. But if the desire to save the life of an eleven-year-old boy is an extenuating circumstance [for the German police force and for the European authorities], how can the desire to prevent a follow-on attack to 9/11 and to save potentially thousands of innocent lives not be one? And if the difficulty involved in questioning a wily and arrogant 27-year-old student who has been “trained in law” [Magnus Gäfgen] is an extenuating circumstance, how can the difficulty involved in questioning an evasive and potentially dangerous al Qaeda operative who has been trained in operational security measures not be one?

To deny the same degree of forbearance to American officials and personnel involved in the war on terror is to imply that irregular combatants forming part of terrorist organizations deserve greater legal protections not only than ordinary prisoners of war, but indeed than ordinary citizens. Such an absurd — and for the United States suicidal — logic could only be embraced by persons who are fundamentally committed to seeing American counter-terrorism efforts fail.