As newspapers and documentary films continue to discuss waterboarding and other controversial treatments of suspected terrorists, the debate over torture remains intense. Some insist that desperate times call for desperate measures, but others are baffled that such methods could exist in a civilized society. Is physical persuasion ever an appropriate means of interrogation?
Written on behalf of Amnesty International USA by Travis W. Hall, former Army interrogator.
Before
Intelligence can be actionable, it has to be reliable. Intelligence is
only reliable if it is confirmed by at least two different sources.
Information obtained through coercive techniques, especially torture,
is inherently not reliable because torture is likely to elicit either
false information or information that is a mixture of truth and lies. A
victim under those circumstances will say whatever is necessary to
cease the physical or psychological torture. Also, a person who is
extremely stressed (because of torture or the threat of torture) is
going to have a lot more difficulty recalling detailed information than
a person who is more relaxed and less fearful. It reasons then that
even if a person talks due to coercion or torture, any information
obtained is not reliable and cannot be used as actionable intelligence.
Torture, therefore, is counterproductive to the intelligence collection
efforts.
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