Rightwords... Prudent Conservatism

We do not do torture.


On the surface this is an easy question. Torture is the act of doing irreparable harm to an individual. Thus, cutting off fingers or hands, pulling out fingernails, driving holes in the body, gouging out eyes, hitting a pregnant woman in her stomach, using the rack to stretch a body, burning the body with hot irons, hanging a body by the thumbs, or any similar acts, are torture.
Does torture work? Yes. It works very well indeed. But, we in the US do not perform such acts on captives. We draw the line at irreparable harm techniques. The Islamofascists do not draw any lines at all, since they have no respect for infidels or other enemies of Islam. Islamofascists torture men, women and children with gusto.

We use a list of interrogation techniques that do no irreparable harm to captives. Playing loud and discordant music all day and night, keeping a prisoner awake for many hours, threatening them with all kinds of harm, questioning them endlessly about the smallest details of their lives, and applying psychological pressure wherever indicated, are some of the techniques that do no irreparable harm.

Do these interrogation techniques work? Yes. They work very well, perhaps not as fast as torture would, but in the end they are quite effective in extracting information of great value. Can I prove this? Yes. I cite my own experience in observing these interrogation techniques in action. There is no better statement to be made than first-hand observation of the results of others performing these non-invasive techniques, and seeing the results pay off in combat. Anyone that says they do not work has not been sufficiently involved to see the results, or else they have a dishonest motive and an agenda of their own to champion.

Update: The Geneva Convention, which is questionably applied to terrorist captives in my opinion, pleads for maintaining the human dignity as well as the corporeal integrity of prisoners. Personally, I could not care less about the human dignity of an Atta, or an OBL fiend once we have proof of terrorist involvement. I do care that we pump all we can out of such monsters to prevent further killing of our citizens and other innocent people.

# posted by Mannning @ 9:22 PM