Torture - the Demeaning Myth

A recent poll shows a signficant minority in most western nations favour the use of torture to extract intelligence. This minority demonstrates the power of myth and ignorance.

Torture doesn't work. It does not work to extract reliable information. Victims of torture either don't talk at all or else they tend to tell their interrogators whatever they want to hear.

One technique U.S. interrogators have been using is known as "waterboarding." The victim is strapped down on an inclined board, head toward the lowest end. A cloth is placed over his face and then water is poured onto the cloth. This creates the sensation of drowning and is said to be very effective - at torturing the victim.

Here is a picture of a waterboard table with a painting above it that illustrates its use:



The device shown was used in Cambodia. Apparently it was used a lot and very effectively. It was used, not to get intelligence, but to extract confessions. It seems that the Cambodians clearly understood that there was no intelligence to be had from victims on the table.

Bush & Company like torture and want to use it freely. They like it even though accounts from Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanimo have consistently shown torture to be ineffective at producing intelligence. It makes you wonder what sort of a person the president is if he wants the power to torture so much when it doesn't work.