Historically torture has had a tendency to produce unreliable results, just look at the witch trials, everyone who denied being a witch was brutally beaten and almost every one of them then admitted to being a witch after several days of torture.
Or look at the knights Templar, under torture almost all of them admited to worshiping the devil, and other acts of heresy.
And If someone doesn't know something and they are being torture they will make something up. if you capture a low level terrorist who happens to know very little, and you torture him for several days you will get information but.. must of it may be made up. I bet that if you give me any person and let me torture him and have complete control of his diet , sleeping and bathroom times , I could make him admit to anything.
So how is torture a reliable intelligence gathering method?
2006-09-17 08:19:18 · 26 answers · asked by Mr.happy 4 in Politics & Government ➔ Politics
A person being tortured will say anything to make the pain stop. I wonder why so much of the evidence we got for WMD's and connections between Saddam and Bin Laden etc... from detainees was later proven to be wrong......................
2006-09-17 08:28:29 · answer #1 · answered by notme 5 · 3⤊ 3⤋
Torture is quite reliable when two or more specimens give identical and verifiable information.
And the Geneva Convention (now that I mention it) is in a way a joke. In WW2, the British, for example, knew the Germans used torture and that it worked. They sent their own spies to Germany, first feeding them false data, then betrayed them so they would be captured and tortured. The Germans then believed the false information that was extracted.
A combination of these tactics resulted in the success of the D-day landings. Does this mean torture was unreliable as far as the Germans were concerned? No, it means torture gets people to tell what they believe, reliable or otherwise.
2006-09-17 08:36:41 · answer #2 · answered by Grist 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Oh but either we rip their nails out or the nasty men with beards will kill us!
It's the climate of fear - either we become barbaric slaves to the all powerful state or we get attacked by terrorists, and maybe a couple of hundred people will die. Dear me, that's for more dangerous than the sedate 1940s, but the allies didn't use torture did they? With our superior knowledge of the imagination of the terrorists we're sure to win!
People will be willing to give up ANYTHING so long as they can have tomorrow pretty much the same as today.
2006-09-17 08:26:18 · answer #3 · answered by Mordent 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Not nowadays. They just inject the poor fellow with some crap, like some 'serum of truth', or make him a junkie so that he/ she will do ANYTHING just for another portion of drug.
When a human being is treated like trash and is stripped of his/her identity all the way to the primal survival instinct, the torturer can obtain from the victim everything he/she wants.
And that's the horrible truth.
2006-09-17 08:42:54 · answer #4 · answered by Sattva 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I don't think it is not always 100% like you point out, but how else is any info. going to come out. Its not like the US tortures anyone and everyone they want. If they torture someone, they probably have a just cause, like they were questioning someone and had psychologists, which are trained in recognizing when someone is lying, to determine if the suspect was lying.
2006-09-17 08:36:15 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
maybe if they sat down with them with a nice cup of tea they would give up all the information . but seriously , you may be right about making something up to stop being tortured , but if 2 guys said the same thing you know it is a credible confession
2006-09-17 08:43:50 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
information won from a terrorist detainee in Saudi Arabia led to the subsequent seize of the individuals of an intensive Islamic cellular in London - purely previous to their beginning up their plans to explode 2 commercial jets over the Atlantic. by some ability, I heavily doubt that the terrorist in Saudi Arabia grew to become into dolling that information out for the period of a communicate over a warm meal and a pitcher of wine. below the scrutiny of the a techniques left idealists in this usa, do you think of that if u . s . a . had detained this airborne dirt and dirt bag, the 1000's of harmless men, women and young ones scheduled to fly out of London on that day would have been saved? evaluate, for a 2nd, that your loved ones grew to become into scheduled to fly on considered one of those planes. In answer on your question, i think of that's crucial that we receive each and all the help we are able to from terrorists. If the diverse information isn't sturdy - so what? yet while the diverse information is sturdy, the advantages completely out way the detriments.
2016-10-01 01:57:04 · answer #7 · answered by dunkelberger 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I've thought about this quite a bit, and one thing confuses me. If you are going to torture somebody to gain Intel, don't you have to know what they know to ask the right questions? Why would you torture someone if you already know what they know?And if they do give you Intel, unless you already know it's true, how could you trust the Intel? It just doesn't make sense. I think it would be more efficient just to kill them rather than wasting time asking questions.
2006-09-17 09:17:07 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
You answered your own question - and did a pretty good job of it! Torture never has been and never will be a reliable means of extracting timely and exact information. It is merely a barbaric act committed by barbarians towards those they have the gall to deem barbarians! Worst example there could be of the pot calling the kettle black. Those who torture should be hung for all the world to see.
2006-09-17 08:26:13 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 3⤋
Maybe faulty or fictional intelligence. People will say anything if they are being tortured to get them to stop.
Torture is a horrible crime that unfortunately Bush is for. He should be ashamed at his very inhumane methods. Bush is a war criminal.
Both, Bush and Saddam Hussein, used torture. I think that says a lot.
2006-09-17 08:28:21 · answer #10 · answered by p2prox 4 · 2⤊ 3⤋