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I'm admittedly ignorant on this topic. Have there been studies detailing the efficacy on these methods to obtain information that lead to the saving of lives?

I'm admittedly ignorant on this topic. Have there been studies detailing the efficacy on these methods to obtain information that lead to the saving of lives? E.g. if X people were subjected to waterboarding, what % of X revealed information that lead to derailing terrorist plots? And then we'd need a control group as well that wasn't subjected. Edit - downvoted for what, trying to quantify this topic and weigh the pros and cons? Christ.

TheOtherHobbes 11y ago
I think it might be quite hard to do those studies for ethical reasons. From what I remember, the consensus among professional interrogators is that torture is largely useless, because people go more or less instantly from not saying anything at all to making up any old nonsense that sounds vaguely plausible just to make the pain and confusion stop. Psychological torture is even less useful, because people simply stop making any sense at all after a while. The most reliable methods were based on extended conversations, with the interrogator pretending to be an equal and gradually persuading a prisoner to open up and/or reveal possible gaps in their story. This kind of interrogation isn't fast, but the ticking timebomb excuse for torture has never been very convincing anyway. Pain on its own is very unlikely to change the mind of anyone who's so indoctrinated they volunteer to take part in a mass terrorist attack.
- zxcvvcxz 11y ago
  Sure, alright that's what I suspected intuitively. Would appreciate some resources to read on the topic. I don't think studies of the nature I proposed are particularly hard to do, but they may be locked in classified status, so civilians wouldn't know.
EliRivers 11y ago
As a starter for some reading, http://www.csmonitor.com/World/terrorism-security/2009/0420/p99s01-duts.html http://www.csmonitor.com/World/terrorism-security/2009/0420/... I have no doubt that if torture had led to significant success stories, someone would have either announced it or leaked it to get some points for the pro-torture side. "They communicated this to agency higher-ups in Washington, who nonetheless insisted on the use of the practice, and asked to watch it take place." I don't know what's more fucked up; to order torture, or to ask to watch.

TheOtherHobbes 11y ago

I think it might be quite hard to do those studies for ethical reasons. From what I remember, the consensus among professional interrogators is that torture is largely useless, because people go more or less instantly from not saying anything at all to making up any old nonsense that sounds vaguely plausible just to make the pain and confusion stop. Psychological torture is even less useful, because people simply stop making any sense at all after a while. The most reliable methods were based on extended conversations, with the interrogator pretending to be an equal and gradually persuading a prisoner to open up and/or reveal possible gaps in their story. This kind of interrogation isn't fast, but the ticking timebomb excuse for torture has never been very convincing anyway. Pain on its own is very unlikely to change the mind of anyone who's so indoctrinated they volunteer to take part in a mass terrorist attack.

zxcvvcxz 11y ago
Sure, alright that's what I suspected intuitively. Would appreciate some resources to read on the topic. I don't think studies of the nature I proposed are particularly hard to do, but they may be locked in classified status, so civilians wouldn't know.

EliRivers 11y ago

As a starter for some reading, http://www.csmonitor.com/World/terrorism-security/2009/0420/p99s01-duts.html http://www.csmonitor.com/World/terrorism-security/2009/0420/... I have no doubt that if torture had led to significant success stories, someone would have either announced it or leaked it to get some points for the pro-torture side. "They communicated this to agency higher-ups in Washington, who nonetheless insisted on the use of the practice, and asked to watch it take place." I don't know what's more fucked up; to order torture, or to ask to watch.