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Use of Torture in Interrogations of POW's

reviewed by Victor83

Since the photos emerged of Iraqi prisoners being mistreated at Abu Ghraib, there has been much discussion about the United States' decision to not apply the rules of the Geneva Convention ...
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Victor83
07/04/2007

Use of Torture in Interrogations of POW's 5

It is hard for me to believe that some people equate sleep deprivation or being forced to sit in a cold room with holding Nick Berg down, hands and feet bound, while these barbaric pigs slowly saw his head off.

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Victor83 commented 878 days ago.
And whoever gave the unhelpful obviously DOES equate the two.

Wiseguy commented 878 days ago.
Chicken S#it Troll.

Victor83 commented 878 days ago.
no doubt

irishgit commented 878 days ago.
I agree, obviously someone does (and it ain't me, just to be clear.) And while I don't agree with torture, there are clearly orders of magnitude involved. Sleep deprivation is a step down from beatings which is a step down from etc... In my view, the big problems with torture is what it does to the torturers, what it does to the state that embraces it, and that torture, without the plausible threat of death is meaningless. Where does a "civilized" state stop on the torture scale, or does it stop at all. And it not stopping, what does it say about its "civility"

Victor83 commented 878 days ago.
irishgit...I never thought that the "troll" was you- I know that you are above that crap. But let me ask you...if sleep deprivation or the use of prolonged exposure to rap or heavy metal garners information that saves lives, are you against that?

irishgit commented 878 days ago.
Not specifically no. Frankly, if you play rap to me, I'll tell you anything. I'll even make up stuff if I need to. Part of my argument against torture is that from what (admittedly limited) reading I've done on the subject, is its unreliability as an interrogation technique. Because the subjects have different abilities to resist torture, and different intelligence levels or fanaticism, it is extremely difficult to rely on torture, in and of itself, as an interrogation technique. I think in many cases, people who support torture are motivated by an understandable desire for vengeance, to wreak the same terror on the terrorist, that has been wrought on others. And while this is an understandable, (albeit in my opinion somewhat deplorable) emotion, it does not necessarily equate with viable intelligence gathering.

Victor83 commented 878 days ago.
I guess we are cutting to the definition of torture...or at least a debate regarding the levels of torture. Bamboo under the nails, spikes through testicles- there I believe you and I agree. But of locking these thugs in a 60 degree room with loud music playing will loosen their lips and perhaps save innocent lives, I have no problem with it. The tendency from the American left is to call anything short of room service, "torture".

irishgit commented 878 days ago.
Sure, but will it, or will intelligence gathered in such a manner be reliable. If the subject is aware that the 60 degree room and the bad music is the limit of the interrogators willingness to inflict pain and discomfort, how much easier does that make it to withstand, or worse yet, provide false information.

Victor83 commented 878 days ago.
stark...from what I have heard...not a lot of difference.

Victor83 commented 878 days ago.
You make a great point irishgit...again, as you say, what is their level of tolerence for the cold room and the bad music. I say keep pushing it.

irishgit commented 878 days ago.
Stark, if you made the terrorists live with my two teenage sons, we'd have the Al Quaeda networks rolled up in a week.

irishgit commented 878 days ago.
Fair enough, Victor, and then the issue becomes where do you stop? Or do you stop? I'm not suggesting this is an easy question, or one with easy solutions. I just think that there are a lot of prices to be paid by going down this road, and not enough dialogue or thought being put into it.

Victor83 commented 878 days ago.
irishgit...let tracy get ahold of the troll, then tell m how you feel about torture...lol.
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