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I tend to agree to disagree with everything that torture is about. I still believe that torture in any form is wrong. Plain and simple. It is especially wrong for a country that is supposed to be the most powerful nation earth and suppose to be the standard bearer for everything that is good in the world. We have shown the world that we are neither brave nor great. We are like spoiled children who shrank and ran the first time we actually got a sniff of what other countries had suffered for a century. We dropped our so called values in a heart beat like chicken little and ran for cover.
Considering the people of Britain have had to endure 7 decades of Cliff Richard I can assure you we know what torture means!!! 😉
For all of those people who think that the “enhanced interrogation” methods are not torture; give me an hour with you and you’ll be confessing to anything I want from the crucifixion onwards.
That’s why torture is useless for gathering information. They’ll say anything you want to hear to make it stop. This has been proven countless times during the centuries.
If all you want is a confession regardless of “Truth justice, and the American way” then have at it. Don’t look for any praise or respect from civilized people or nations, though.
I agree with you in part James, but torture can provide a wealth of truthful information until it won’t. Many subjects exposed to such methods will tell the interrogator what he is wanting to know in the first 30-60 minutes of stress. After that, however, when they’ve already told the truth, much of what follows is pure bullshit. They just want it to stop and as you point out “they’ll say anything you want to hear to make it stop.”
I have to disagree. Most people will resist at first even lie, then say anything to make it stop.
I doubt that any reliable information can be obtained unless you have a specific situation.
For example, you know someone has robbed a bank but cannot find where they have hidden the money. You can demand that information and make certain they know if they lie, you’ll start all over again.
I was taught these truths by the Mexican Federales along with some methods that do not leave a mark on the person but are very effective at obtaining any information that can be easily verified.
Well we can agree to disagree James. The Germans kept meticulous records of their interrogations, and they clearly demonstrate that people will lie initially but, when they know the lie to be futile, will resort to the truth, and then back again when there is no more truth to tell. So, I’m a member of the “torture works” camp, but not a member of the “torture is a good thing” camp 🙂