The movie Zero Dark Thirty has
reignited the torture debate. Some insiders say that torture such as
waterboarding did lead to useful clues about Bin Laden's whereabouts.
The jury is still out on that; but even if true, it distracts from a
two key points.
First, as commander in chief George
Washington forbid torture. We didn't need it during the revolutionary
war and all the wars thereafter, so why would we need it now? Is Bin
Laden worse than Hitler? Some argue that since our enemies are
uncivilized, that we should use uncivilized counter-measures. Two
wrongs don't make a right, and this drags us down into their hell
hole, which is what they want. It's called "terrorism" for a
reason. If they can turn us to be less civilized, they have scored
points.
Second, torture is not the most
effective way to get information. Interrogation experts have learned
to use a combination of rewards and what one might call "mind
games" to get information. Rewards may be something like a
better cell, better food, or softer bed if useful information is
given up. But even for those prisoners immune to the carrot, one
finds that most prisoners kept in isolation are quite eager to talk.
People are social animals and crave some contact. If the
interrogator(s) is reasonably friendly, almost all will eventually
carry on a conversation.
As expected, the captives often
intentionally lie and give false information when they do talk.
However, the nature of their lies and half-truths reveals patterns
over time, and these patterns can be mined by careful analysis of
both the prisoner's statements and that of other prisoners involved
in a given skirmish or terror cell. Different interrogators may ask
the same question different ways, and eventually the prisoner will
lose track of what lie he or she told which interrogator because the
prisoner has no pencil and paper.
There's more to the techniques that
would take too long to describe here. But over all it's a matter of
using patience and careful analysis. Further, once a captive is
tortured, they are far more likely to clam up. Their anger and
bitterness over the torture motivates them to keep their mouth shut
such that further "friendly" interrogations are far less
fruitful. Torture is a one-way street.
