>
> On Mar 20, 2008, at 10:44 AM, Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:
>
> > --- Chris Doss <lookoverhere1 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> The effectiveness or lack thereof of torture is an
> >> emprical question. Is there data?
> >>
>
>
> I thought that military and intelligence professionals frown on
> torture - it's ineffective and produces a lot of false leads (people
> will say anything to get you to stop), and they don't want the
> precedent of others doing it to our guys. It's only vicarious macho
> hotshots like Mitt Romney that cheer it on. Am I wrong on this?
>
> Doug
If military intelligence professionals "frown on torture" then why did they insist upon teaching it to Latin American torture regimes over and over again?
Answer: Because the purpose of torture is not to gain "intelligence" but to produce terror and destroy social networks by collecting names of more people to terrorize. That is how the U.S. trained torture regimes such as Brazil, Argentina, Chile, El Salvador used torture; and that is how the U.S. torturers used torture today.
The ones who "frown" on torture are actual "intelligence" agents who don't like to get their hands dirty, and more honor to them I suppose. But much of what passes for "intelligence" work is terror, pure and simple.
Jerry
-- Jerry Monaco's Philosophy, Politics, Culture Weblog is Shandean Postscripts to Politics, Philosophy, and Culture http://monacojerry.livejournal.com/
His fiction, poetry, weblog is Hopeful Monsters: Fiction, Poetry, Memories http://www.livejournal.com/users/jerrymonaco/
Notes, Quotes, Images - From some of my reading and browsing http://www.livejournal.com/community/jerry_quotes/