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June 27, 2004
CIA suspends "enhanced interrogation"
The CIA has suspended some of the “enhanced interrogation techniques” -- pending review by Justice Department and “other lawyers.” Apparently, the move “reflects the agency's concern about being accused of unsanctioned and illegal activities, as it was in the 1970s.”
Well, one thing is that this time around we know that the Justice Department had decreed that torture was either legal or unprosecutable. It was only after the Abu Ghraib pictures became public that the administration decided to review the previous legal “advice.”
Still, it’s good to know they’ve stopped refusal of pain medication and mock drowning. That’s right, refusal of pain medication was among the “enhanced” techniques that we used.
Report: CIA Halts Interrogation Tactics The techniques include such things as feigned drowning and refusal of pain medication for injuries.The paper quoted current and former CIA officers aware of the recent decision as saying the suspension reflects the agency's concern about being accused of unsanctioned and illegal activities, as it was in the 1970s.
It’s important to note that the “legal advice” was more “how can we get away with what we want to do” rather than “what are we allowed to do.” International or domestic laws regarding torture have not changed; rather, the public outcry over the photos has changed the parameters of can be gotten away with. Hence the need for new “interpretations.”
The administration argument, between the lines and from the mouths of its attack-dogs has been that it’s better to do a little bit of unsavory activity on the side rather than risk more American casualties. Here’s Trent Lott, for example:
You recently created a stir when you defended the interrogation techniques at Abu Ghraib.Most of the people in Mississippi came up to me and said: ''Thank Goodness. America comes first.'' Interrogation is not a Sunday-school class. You don't get information that will save American lives by withholding pancakes.
But unleashing killer dogs on naked Iraqis is not the same as withholding pancakes.
I was amazed that people reacted like that. Did the dogs bite them? Did the dogs assault them? How are you going to get people to give information that will lead to the saving of lives?
Well, the dogs did bite the prisoners but let me not digress.
The truth of the matter is that, even from a purely pragmatic point of view, it is exactly this unsavory activity that is making all of us less safe. Many experts have noted that torture produces so much unreliable information as the victims says anything to make it stop, the results are hard to turn into “actionable intelligence” even if they contain some truths among them. On the other hand, it produces many people who now really might be willing to die for a chance for payback.
Think about it -- how do you sift through information gathered from thousands of people whom you have made very, very eager to lie to you to avoid being electrocuted, drowned or raped? Do you go investigate everything they claim? How can you tell the “stop torturing me” confession from a true confession?
And remember that a February 2004 Red Cross report estimated that 70 to 90 percent of detainees in Abu Ghraib “had been arrested by mistake,” and what little we know about the Guantanamo detainees indicates that many of them seemed to have posed very little threat to the United States before being imprisoned for years without charges or lawyers, and that they even included teens under the age of sixteen. Considering those teens spent years at Guantanamo, I can't help wonder how old they were when they were captured.
And, of course, why are these techniques "suspended"? Does the CIA expect them to become legal or acceptable some time in the future?
Posted by zeynep at June 27, 2004 03:43 PM
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Comments
Once again Trent Lott proves that he is one of the most ignorant and stupid people on the planet. In addition you are quite correct that it is a well known fact that information gathered from torturing people is virtually 100% unreliable. It is an established fact that people who are being tortured will say whatever it is that they think you want them to say in order to get you to stop torturing them. And this doesn't even consider the inhumanity of torture as a technique in the first place. I would be opposed to torture even if it did effect reliable information. There is the little matter of morality and virtue. The argument has always been from the inhumane that that is just the way the world operates--that is, everyone uses torture techniques. That has always been a specious argument. The truth is that only criminals use torture to extract "information" from human beings. Is Trent Lott a criminal? Does a bear shit in the woods? Absolutely and all the time. Morality matters in spite of idiots and criminals like Trent Lott and his fellow congressional conspirators.
You would make a great detective, Zeynep.
Sincerely,
Old & In The Way
Posted by: Phil Cicchi at June 27, 2004 09:27 PM