A friend e-mails regarding my column today:

It’s agreed that the manner in which the pantybomber was processed and ‘interrogated’ was an unprofessional shambles. . .
Self-sabotage is not an unfair description. . .
However, I’m compelled to make a practical PR and ‘human behavior’ point. . .
This guy’s FATHER turned him in. . . I think that’s a good thing. . .
Do I think this guy’s father would have turned him in if he feared his son would be ‘tortured’ to get more information?
I don’t know — but it’s easy for me to imagine that a concerned parent, friend or colleague would think twice before reporting someone if they thought that might lead to what they think of as ‘torture’.
For the record, Abdulmutallab should have been hauled off that plane and declared an ‘unlawful combatant;’ he is not a criminal who deserves constitutional protections. . .
That said, it’s a good thing that his dad came to the American embassy and we don’t have policies and practices to discourage that.

I agree with this as far as it goes. The thing is that the father came to us after all the fuss about America becoming a “torture nation” after we applied enhanced techniques to about 30 detainees and waterboarded 3. So I wouldn’t let an over-sensitivity about our image abroad keep us from interrogating terrorists, within the law, as necessary (for all I know his father thinks it makes no sense to give Abdulmutallab a lawyer and keep him from talking).