A key architect of America's torture program, Doug Feith, testified
under oath to Congress today that torture is necessary because - otherwise
- we couldn't get any information out of the "bad guys". Several Congress
people agreed.
Why do any Congress people support this argument?
Because many people mistakenly assume that torture works,
and is thus a necessary evil.
Let's put aside questions of morality, humanity, and legality . . .
Let's just focus on one question: does torture work?
In fact, the professional FBI, CIA and army interrogators all say no.
They say that people will say anything
to stop the pain . . . specifically, they'll say what they think the
torturer wants to hear. Moreover,
they say that the way to actually get useful information about of prisoners
-- including information helpful to stopping future terrorist attacks
-- is to build trust and rapport with them, or to outsmart them in ongoing
conversations.
"Experience indicates that the use of force is not necessary
to gain the cooperation of sources for interrogation. Therefore,
the use of force is a poor technique, as it yields unreliable results,
may damage subsequent collection efforts, and can induce the source
to say whatever he thinks the interrogator wants to hear."
The FBI
interrogators who actually interviewed some of the 9/11 suspects
say torture didn't work
Still don't believe it? These
people also say torture doesn't produce usable intelligence:
Former high-level CIA official Bob Baer said "And torture -- I just
don't think it really works ... you don't get the truth. What happens
when you torture people is, they figure out what you want to hear
and they tell you."
Rear Admiral (ret.) John Hutson, former Judge Advocate General for
the Navy, said "Another objection is that torture doesn't work. All
the literature and experts say that if we really want usable information,
we should go exactly the opposite way and try to gain the trust and
confidence of the prisoners."
Michael Scheuer, formerly a senior CIA official in the Counter-Terrorism
Center, said "I personally think that any information gotten through
extreme methods of torture would probably be pretty useless because
it would be someone telling you what you wanted to hear."
Dan Coleman, one of the FBI agents assigned to the 9/11 suspects
held at Guantanamo said "Brutalization doesn't work. We know that.
"
Many other professional interrogators say the same thing (see this,
this,
and this).
Torture is certainly immoral, inhumane, and an illegal war crime. However,
until people realize that it doesn't
work, it will not stop, and those responsible will not be held
accountable.
