Just a day after the CIA disclosed that intense interrogation techniques performed on Khalid Sheik Mohammed stopped a terror attack in LA and led to the arrest of the terrorist Hambali, the Director of National Intelligence in the Obama administration further defended their use. Admiral Dennis Blair wrote an internal memo saying techniques such as waterboarding provided “high-value information” that assisted in understanding al-Qaeda operations against this country.

Interestingly, the memo that was originally released to the public by the administration had the words of support redacted. I’m not going to personally read too much into that, as Blair’s office says they were deleted in the normal process of shortening a memo for release, but you would think those words would be fairly significant to keep in.

While it’s true that we have considered waterboarding by other nations as torture, there’s an increasing argument that it works, as Patterico goes into here. As I’ve said before, I don’t want America in the business of cutting off fingers and branding with hot irons, and I don’t want us to get into the business of torture. At the same time, what do you do when you have a known terrorist who won’t answer your questions? At some point, asking nicely will fail to work, especially when you release CIA interrogation policies so your potential enemies will be prepared for what’s coming. At that point, do you just shrug your shoulders and cross your fingers?

I’m not saying it’s an easy choice, nor am I discounting the ethical and moral dilemma involved. At the end of the day, though, it’s about saving lives and busting up terror cells that target civilians for slaughter. And the absolutely wrong thing to do is to prosecute people in a previous administrations that used “aggressive interrogation” in at least a semi-successful manner.

President Obama today left the door open to prosecution of Bush administration officials for devising interrogation policies that the current administration deems distasteful. The move is something of a flip-flop, as Obama had previously indicated he wouldn’t go after the past administration. The interrogation policies were detailed in memos released last week to some controversy, both in what they contained, outlining waterboarding, sleep deprivation, and the use of insects, and in the fact that they were released at all, providing our enemies with a playbook to CIA interrogation, thus giving them greater information on how to resist.

I don’t want the United States to be in the business of torture, but there is some difference between “torture” and “interrogation.” Yes, I know that the Japanese waterboarded during World War II and we considered it torture back then. Yes, I know that Republican Presidential nominee John McCain came out against the practice. Yes, I know the arguments that torture never works, as the one questioned ends up telling the interrogator what they want to hear.

The thorny point is that the “harsh interrogations” seemed to have worked at least a little bit. The CIA maintains that its interrogations on Khalid Sheik Mohammed and others thwarted a 9/11-style attack on Los Angeles and led to the arrest of the terrorist Hambali. In addition, former Vice President Dick Cheney is pushing for the immediate release of more CIA memos that he believes will justify the use of the questionable interrogation practices.

But even beyond the debate about what constitutes torture and what works to safeguard the American public is what appears to me to be a politically motivated judicial attack on a previous administration. I agree with Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey when he says that if Obama truly believes the interrogation tactics were not warranted, he should simply move forward. Prosecuting a former administration (and conveniently overlooking anything any other administrations may have done) will be an unfair and vindictive act of partisanship that will obliterate any chance for Obama of winning over Republicans and conservatives. President Obama is leaving the judicial moves up to Attorney General Eric Holder and the Justice Department, but make no mistake, if shameful and partisan show trials commence, it will be another example of an administration not trying to be conciliatory and govern from the center, but imperiously dictating terms to those who didn’t vote for a winner. I don’t know what will ultimately come of this, but I hope that scenario doesn’t come to pass.

Imam Malik adalah salah satu dari 4 Imam dari Mazhab fiqih dari ulama’ ahlus sunnah wal jama’ah, ilmunya begitu tinggi hingga di sebutkan bahwa beliau hapal lebih dari 500 ribu hadits berikut sanad dan matannya yang sampai kepada Rosulullah SAW. Guru Imam Malik yang terutama yaitu Imam Ahmad Ibn Hambal, Imam dari mazhab Hambali yang juga menghapal hadits kurang lebih sama jumlahnya dengan Imam Malik dan Imam Ahmad berguru kepada ‘Al-Faqih Al-Muqoddam’ Muhammad bin Alawi leluhurnya para Alawiyyin yang mana Muhammad bin Alawi ini mendapatkan ilmunya secara turun-temurun, tersambung sampai Imam Ali Zainal Abidin ‘As-Sajjaad’, lalu kepada Imam Husin Bin Ali, lalu Imam Ali bin Abi Thalib ‘Karramallahu Wajhah’, sahabat merangkap sepupu merangkap menantu dari Rosulullah, dan Rosulullah pernah menyatakan bahwa keturunan dari Ali dan Fathimah adalah penerus dari ‘Keturunan Suci’ atau lebih dikenal dengan ‘Ahlul Bait’.

Kelahiran Imam Malik sudah di prediksi sebelumnya oleh Rosulullah SAW sebagai mana sabdanya “Akan lahir sesudah ku seorang yang ‘alim di kota Madinah, yang mana orang-orang akan memicu onta dan kudanya untuk berguru kepadanya”, dan pada masa hidupnya pun orang menggelari Imam Malik dengan gelar “Aalimil Madinah” atau orang yang berilmu dari kota Madinah.

Imam Malik sangat mencintai Rosulullah SAW, sangat menghormati para keluarga Rosulullah, dan sangat menjunjung tinggi hadits-hadits Nabi, apabila beliau ditanya oleh seseorang tentang suatu hadits atau beliau hendak mengajarkan suatu hadits kepada murid-muridnya maka beliau menyempatkan diri untuk memakai pakaian yang bagus, memakai minyak wangi dan bersiwak, setelah itu baru beliau berkata “Aku mendengar dari guruku, dan guruku mendengar dari gurunya…. ” dan seterusnya sampai “Dan salah seorang sahabat mendengar Rosulullah SAW bersabda ……..”, hadist-hadits yang beliau sampaikan terjaga keotentikannya, mencapai derajat shohih, dan di sepakati oleh ulama-ulama lainnya.

Imam Malik adalah guru utama dari Imam Syafi’i, dan Imam Syafi’i adalah murid kesayangan dari Imam Malik, banyak hadits yang diwarisi oleh Imam Syafi’i dari Imam Malik. Hingga suatu saat Imam Malik memanggil Imam Syafi’i dengan bermaksud menghadiahkan kuda dan ontanya yang berjumlah kurang lebih 10.000 ekor kepada Imam Syafi’i. Rasa ingin tau Imam Syafi’i pun mendorongnya untuk bertanya “Mengapa kau hadiahi aku dengan kuda dan onta yang demikian banyak, dan tidak kau sisakan satu pun untukmu ?”, Imam Malik menjawab “Aku hanya ingin berpergian dengan berjalan kaki, karena aku malu menunggangi kuda dan ontaku dia atas muka bumi yang di dalam nya terkubur jasad suci Rosulullah SAW”.

Demikian cermin kecintaan Imam Malik kepada Rosulullah SAW, dan sudah sepatutnya kita ummat yang hidup di akhir zaman ini menghormatinya, karena menghormati ulama sama dengan menghormati Nabi, menghormati Nabi merupakan jalan menuju rido nya Allah SWT.