Earthcubed wrote:
The Bush administration claims that the highest Al-qaida prisoner they have (don't remember his name) was subjected to waterboarding and after months worth of fruitless nonviolent questioning he gave up in fifteen seconds and told them info that led to the capture of other terrorists in the middle of operations. If they can provide evidence that this is the case, then that would be one such instance in which torture provided accurate info.
Anyway, the point that people being tortured will say anything to make it stop goes both ways, as "anything" includes the truth.
I'm of the opinion that anyone caught and convicted for terrorism or attempted terrorism inside the U.S., if they are high enough in the organization's chain of command, then the investigators should assume there is a ticking-time-bomb scenario as a precaution. This would mean torture rarely happens, since people that sufficiently high in an organization typically don't even enter the U.S. and just relay their orders overseas. Everybody that's worth pleasing is happy this way---minimal torture, and only the people who'd know anythign anyway are being tortured. And of course it must be a last resort.
From Wiki:
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
Several accounts reported that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded while being interrogated by the CIA. According to the Bush administration, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed divulged information of tremendous value during his detention. He is said to have helped point the way to the capture of Riduan Isamuddin (AKA Hambali), the Indonesian terrorist responsible for the 2002 bombings of night clubs in Bali. According to the Bush administration, he also provided information on an Al Qaeda leader in England.[66]
So yes, torture does have its use.
edit: Another interesting wiki one
Abu Zubaida
There have also been reports that Abu Zubaida was waterboarded while detained by the U.S. government.
In 2002, U.S. intelligence located Abu Zubayda by tracing his phone calls. He was captured March 28, 2002, in a safehouse located in a two story apartment in Faisalabad, Pakistan. While in U.S. custody, he was waterboarded,[75] and consequently gave a great deal of information about the 9/11 attack plot. Such information was used by the Canadian government in seeking to uphold the 'security certificate' of Mohamed Harkat. Participating in his interrogation were two American psychologists, James Elmer Mitchell and R. Scott Shumate.[76][77]
Thorgrim_Honkronte wrote:
I'd be more than welcome to take on the jihadists. If they think they are the only ones who know how to make home made bombs and use guns... well they know nothing about redneck America.
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