November 16, 2005, 83,000 foreigners can't all be wrong...
Well, let's not go there; that appears to be around the total number of foreign nationals detained by the United States (officially, that is) in various aspects of the "war on terror", according to this Grey Lady report. Very few of the detainees, by number at least, appear to be detained for the years and years that detainees have been held in, say, Guantanimo Bay, Cuba.
Perhaps many of the detainees have actual intelligence value; or perhaps few or none do. That's just it: we have no idea.
And remember: these are the above-board, official detainees, rather than the invisible "ghost" prisoners that the CIA is having fun with... somewhere.
We don't know. In some sense, how are we going to get any useful information if we don't pick up people and interrogate them? OTOH, if we violate local, international and American law in the process...
Well, never mind. As Drudge would say... developing...