MUSHARRAF, IDEALISM VERSUS REALISM

During the course of an SBS interview, the capture and possible torture of al Qaeda number three Abu Faraj al-Libby came up:

GEORGE NEGUS: Can I ask you this - I mean I don't know Pakistan's procedure or principles on this - but would he have been tortured by your people when he was in custody here?

GENERAL PERVEZ MUSHARRAF: I wouldn't be able to comment on that. We presume not, but again, I mean - as I see it - leave the torturing aside - are we here to give comfort to terrorists or are we here to extract information? Because he is a part of a terrorist organisation and we should not show much sympathy towards an individual who is a terrorist.

GEORGE NEGUS: Understood, understood.

GENERAL PERVEZ MUSHARRAF: Now when it comes to the methodology, I really don't know what methods they use, but I believe we should not tie the hands of the intelligence operatives in interrogation. That is all that I would like to say. They have to extract information. The key issue is you must get information out of the man.

GEORGE NEGUS: Does that mean, though, that all the human rights rules are out the window... .for the interrogation of suspected terrorists?

GENERAL PERVEZ MUSHARRAF: If you talk idealistically, yes. If you're talking of human rights, what about the human rights of the number of people he's killed and what about the human rights of - he's attacked, he's the mastermind in attacking me - what about my human right?

GEORGE NEGUS: Is that true, that he was the mastermind behind one or two, maybe more, assassination attempts against your life?

GENERAL PERVEZ MUSHARRAF: Absolutely, absolutely. No doubt he is the man behind about 8 to 10 terrorist attacks in Pakistan, where people got killed. He is the mastermind of attacking me, the suicide bomb, and there were 14 people killed. What about their human rights? What are the condition of the families? What is the condition of that one policeman who stopped the vehicle which blasted himself up when my motorcade passed? What about that policeman? What about his family? Where are their human rights?

It's a very good point. How many lives must torture save before it's appropriate? If it's my life, or the life of a loved one that's saved, I'd be willing to see a terrorist tortured to death. Hey, I am a Right Wing Death Beast, after all.

For the whole interview, click here.