But who would believe us now?

[kpete]

Jack Cloonan


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


When we speak today of "breaking" a terrorist suspect, many people picture something grim—perhaps a subject curled up in a fetal position and begging for mercy. But it's not what I picture. I worked as a special agent for the FBI's Osama bin Laden unit from 1996 to 2002. During that time, my colleagues and I had the chance to question numerous operatives from al-Qaeda. We broke many terrorists. But we did it the right way: by being intelligent and humane.



One man we captured was Ali Abdul Saoud Mohamed, an al-Qaeda operative behind the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Ali Mohamed had fully expected to be tortured once we took him in. Instead, we assured him that we wouldn't harm him, and we offered to protect his family. Within weeks, we had opened a gold mine of information about al-Qaeda's operations.

.......................

Intelligence failures had much to do with the atrocity of September 11, but those had nothing to do with a lack of torture. Let me be clear on one crucial point: it is the terrorists whom we won over with humane methods in the 1990s who continue to provide the most reliable intelligence we have in the fight against al-Qaeda. And it is the testimony of terrorists we tortured after 9/11 who have provided the most unreliable information, such as stories about a close connection between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein. I never regret that the FBI didn't abuse its detainees. Had we done so, we would have had much less reliable intelligence, and we would have been morally debased. By instituting a pol-icy of torture in the years following 9/11, we have recruited thousands to al-Qaeda's side. It has been a tragic waste.

I've mentioned that we assured our detainees that we wouldn't harm them or their families. One of our techniques for breaking them was repeating that powerful promise again and again and again. But who would believe us now?

more at:
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2008/0801.cloonan.html

[Solly Mack]

1. "But who would believe us now?"

Not I

[Echo In Light]

3. Nor I

[vickitulsa]

2. I hope this article and particularly its main point gets wide attention.

It is so very important!

I'm guessing Cloonan's revelations have been made to some extent already by others as well as himself, amidst the clamor of discussion about torture-as-policy. As so often happens these days, however, the facts have probably been ignored or little noticed, even if heard.

Perhaps now the timing is right for people to unstop their ears and actually listen to the truth about the practice of humane, intelligent, and effective interrogation versus degrading, stupid, and INeffective torture.

I don't expect such rational behavior from some types, of course, but don't most people, in the end, exhibit a lot of common sense? At this point, when one idiotic and malicious policy after another that these morans in positions of power have implemented has proven disastrous, might not U.S. citizens at long last recognize the sheer folly of endorsing torture as a way to obtain useful and accurate intelligence?

We've had torture crammed down our throats -- no pun intended -- for some years now, not least by vehicles in the entertainment industry, I might note. Are people not sick of it yet? I keep hoping they'll have thought this thing through by now and realize that human beings will quite literally "say anything" when brutalized.

Common sense tells us how useless such results are to anyone, while the practice of torture damages our national reputation and honor immeasurably! Why on earth would any "proud patriot" want that, honestly??


(Try this experiment: Go through the TV schedule or a listing of movies, rating each one for content of torture, and see how many of them qualify. I believe there has been a deliberate campaign to "crudify" and benumb the public in this regard. Can we turn the trend around, or is it too late now for that? I'd love to see labels on film products such as "Some violence but no torture," for instance.)

K&R!

[nashville_brook]

4. kick, etc...

[Diclotican]

5. kpete

kpete

Torture is punishment.. nothing more, nothing less.. And for the mob who are ruling your country today. Torture is the right thing to do. Even if it is proving wrong again, and again..

Diclotican

Sorry my bad English, not my native language