The following are editorial opinions from newspapers from around the world which may be of interest to Royal Gazette readers.

The (Covington) Kentucky Post,

on interrogation techniques

Torture — or enhanced interrogation techniques, if you wish — is not part of the American ethos. It is forbidden by law and treaty.

We are embarrassed by it, even when it results, as it apparently did, in persuading senior al Qaeda leader Abu Zubaydah to deliver up 9-11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and his accomplice, Ramzi Binalshibh.

Now it turns out that in 2005 the CIA destroyed videotapes of the interrogations three years earlier of Zubaydah and at least one other captive even as the courts, Congress, the 9-11 Commission and defence lawyers were being told those tapes didn't exist. ...

The CIA's rationale for destroying the videotapes, approved by the head of the clandestine division, makes a certain amount of sense from the agency's standpoint. It wanted to protect the identities of the interrogators to prevent reprisals against them and their families. It wanted to protect its officers from legal risk. And, said Hayden, the tapes no longer had any intelligence value.

As for the secrecy surrounding both the existence of the tapes and their destruction, the CIA said it informed the leaders of the congressional intelligence committees. But one former chairman said he wasn't told, another said he was told but only after the fact and another said she was informed and recommended against destroying them.

Clearly, this episode calls out for further explanation.

The Times Union, Albany, N.Y.,– on assault weapons:

As more information is released by authorities in Omaha, Neb., the profile of Robert Hawkins begins to conform with that of other gunmen who have killed randomly out of rage and torment. ...

How he was able to obtain an AK-47 assault rifle remains a mystery, although police in Omaha theorise he stole it from his stepfather. ...

Proponents of gun rights continue to argue that there is little society can do to prevent someone who is determined to secure a gun, usually illegally, to carry out a death mission. But that does not relieve society of its obligation to reduce the number of gun deaths by regulations to keep weapons out of the hands of those who are either mentally or emotionally distraught.

For example, the Virginia Tech shooting might have been prevented if it weren't for a loophole in that state's background check law. ...

Virginia has since closed that loophole, and other states have voluntarily expanded the number of names submitted to the FBI's Mental Defective File. ... More names will almost surely be added if Congress passes legislation encouraging states to submit such background data on a timely basis.

At the same time, there is reason to wonder if AK-47s would be so easily available today if President Bush and Congress had extended the assault weapons ban passed during the Clinton era.