Does Torture Work?

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19 November 2010

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Torture Does Not Work

“Enhanced interrogation methods” have been authorized by U.S. for use on suspected terrorists but experience suggests it delivers low quality information

U.S. President Ronald Reagan said “America is a shining city upon a hill whose beacon light guides freedom-loving people everywhere.” During the administration of George W. Bush the light was extinguished.

Robust Response to 9/11

George W. Bush made reference to Ronald Reagan’s famous characterization of the United States on one of the darkest days in American history.

On the evening of September 11, 2001 a grim-faced Mr. Bush went on television to speak to his shocked nation. He told the audience, “America was targeted for attack because we’re the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world. And, no one will keep that light from shining.”

That’s when the human rights trouble started. Mr. Bush, and his vice president, Dick Cheney (left), decided that in their war on terror they would not hesitate to fight dirty. They were going to operate outside the rule of law.

Here’s how Cheney put it in a February 2009 interview with Politico “Protecting the country’s security is a tough, mean, dirty, nasty business. These are evil people and we are not going to win this fight by turning the other cheek.”

Waterboarding at Guantanamo Bay

Many of the men in Gitmo Detention Centre were subjected to what was called “enhanced interrogation methods.” This included sleep deprivation, being made to stand naked in a cold cell for long periods, slapping with an open hand, and a nasty little procedure known as “waterboarding.”

Here waterboarding is described by ABC News (November 2005): “The prisoner is bound to an inclined board, feet raised, and head slightly below the feet. Cellophane is wrapped over the prisoner’s face and water is poured over him. Unavoidably, the gag reflex kicks in and a terrifying fear of drowning leads to almost instant pleas to bring the treatment to a halt.”

ABC News quoted John Sifton of Human Rights Watch as saying that waterboarding makes the person believe “they are being killed, and as such, it really amounts to a mock execution, which is illegal under international law.”

Author Says Torture Does Not Work

Darius Rejali is a professor of political science at Reed College, Portland, Oregon. His 2007 book Torture and Democracy exhaustively examines the topic of using force on prisoners to extract information.

In the book Rejali attacks head-on the belief among torture’s apologists that its use in Algeria in 1957 enabled the French to win an important victory against terrorists.

Having studied the autobiographies of some of the torturers and the now-open archives of the war in Algeria Rejali concludes: “…the French won by applying overwhelming force in an extremely constrained space, not by superior intelligence gathered through torture…In fact, the battle shows the devastating consequences of torture for any democracy foolish enough to institutionalize it.”

He quotes one of the French torturers, Jean-Pierre Vittori, as saying: “As the pain of interrogation began they talked abundantly, citing the names of the dead or militants on the run, indicating locations of old hiding places in which we didn’t find anything but some documents without interest.”

Better Intelligence Comes from Simple Interrogation

And, writes Professor Rejali, better intelligence can be gathered by not torturing. He points out that during World War II the British captured all but three of the several hundred German spies in England without torturing anybody.

Many of the German agents were, in fact, turned into double agents who radioed fake coordinates back to Germany that directed V rockets to explode harmlessly in farmer’s fields.

A day after being sworn into office President Barack Obama ordered a halt to all torture activity by U.S. forces. He said that by condoning torture America had “lost its moral bearings.” Now, that the dark period is over there may be a return to the “shining city upon a hill.”

Sources

“Cheney Warns of New Attacks.” John F. Harris et al, Politico, 4 February 2009.

“CIA’s Harsh Interrogation Techniques Described.” Brian Ross and Richard Esposito, ABC News, November 18, 2005.

“CSIS Evidence Excluded over Torture Concerns.” Canadian Press, July 23, 2010.

TORTURE EVIDENCE INADMISSIBLE

For a decade Canada has been trying to deport Mohamed Majoub, a man accused of having terrorist links.

However, a Federal Court has ruled there are reasonable grounds to believe some of the evidence against him was obtained through torture.

In July 2010, Justice Edmond Blanchard said evidence gathered in such a way cannot be used in a Canadian court.

The judge added that the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service does not have an effective way of finding out whether or not torture has been used to extract information from suspects.