Great Blog from USA Today

Have you ever heard a brilliant idea and instantly became mad, frustrated and disappointed for yourself for not thinking of it first?

Well, that’s how I feel about Marc Thiessen’s blog from yesterday’s USA Today.

It lists some proposed questions that he would like to see senators ask Leon Panetta, President Obama’s choice to lead the CIA.

Here are some of the best ones:

• Last year you wrote in the Washington Monthly that even if waterboarding could stop the next terrorist attack or suicide bomber, it should not be permitted. According to our intelligence community, waterboarding and other enhanced interrogation techniques President Obama has banned helped stop a number of terrorist attacks, including a plot to hijack a passenger plane and fly it into the Library Tower in Los Angeles and a plot to fly passenger planes into Heathrow Airport and the Canary Wharf in London. Knowing these facts, do you still believe waterboarding should not be permitted under any circumstances? And if so, which of these attacks would you prefer had not been stopped?

• Khalid Sheikh Mohammed — the mastermind of 9/11 — reportedly underwent waterboarding while in CIA custody. Since you believe waterboarding is torture, doesn't it follow that the evidence against Mohammed should be thrown out under the "exclusionary rule" and his case dismissed?

• Since 9/11, the CIA has successfully conducted targeted killings of senior al-Qaeda leaders by armed unmanned aerial vehicles. Will the CIA continue to use these tactics under your leadership? And if so, why is it acceptable for the CIA to conduct targeted killings of senior al-Qaeda leaders, but unacceptable to question senior al-Qaeda leaders using enhanced interrogation techniques?

• President Obama has pledged to intensify the hunt for al-Qaeda in Pakistan. If another senior al-Qaeda leader is captured, what will you do with him now that Guantanamo Bay and the CIA's secret prisons will be shuttered? What will you do when that terrorist — with intelligence on plots to attack America — refuses to talk? And if an attack that could have been prevented by enhanced interrogation techniques takes place, will you accept personal responsibility?

Please read the entire article, as it is an outstanding read.