Zero Dark Torture

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.