Do you think torture produces valuable information?

[Flippant]

I've been having this argument with a friend who's appalled at the recent hullabaloo.

My position is that of course torture works. It produces bullshit, sure, but if there's a truth being withheld, I'll bet the truth will out under the right stressors.

What sayest thou?

 

[LucasWithLidOff]

Only if the person being tortured actually knows something.

 

[ben236]

I've been having this argument with a friend who's appalled at the recent hullabaloo.

My position is that of course torture works. It produces bullshit, sure, but if there's a truth being withheld, I'll bet the truth will out under the right stressors.

What sayest thou?

How do you determine that truth is being withheld though? If the guy doesn't know anything, then what will come out under those right stressors is a bunch of bullshit.

 

[Caution]

Torture rarely reveals truthful information.

 

[Madmick]

We already have tons of threads where torture is discussed. Your OP is fundamentally a question, but it would greatly improve it if you provided some actual evidence to support your position. Without that, then assuming you were after , I'm not sure why you didn't just run a search for previously existing commentary. For example:
http://forums.sherdog.com/forums/f5...-enhanced-interrogation-not-necessary-984704/

 

[Flippant]

Sorry madmick.

 

[Its Me Austin]

A flayed man holds no secrets.

 

[bdawk]

Yes. It has been proven to do so.

Question answered.

Nothing more to say.

 

[Flippant]

I apologize for starting this thread when I could have posted elsewhere.

 

[Higus]

Torture rarely reveals truthful information.

Exactly. A person being tortured will say whatever their interrogator wants them to say to stop being tortured. If someone water boarded me for 5 minutes, I'd probably confess to killing JFK and swear that 2+2=5.

 

[Steve08]

How do you determine that truth is being withheld though? If the guy doesn't know anything, then what will come out under those right stressors is a bunch of bullshit.

These are generally my thoughts. He may simply lie just to say something, and his biological tells will be the same nonetheless.

Torture with a TRUTH SERUM involved though... now we're getting somewhere.

 

[FishinWithFredo]

Do it to Julia! Do it to Julia!

 

[shredded95]

I believe the threat of torture is just as effective.

 

[ucunc156]

produces mixed results. Depends on the person and what they actually know. if they know the information and aren't willing to die for the ideology, it works. if they dont know the info and just want the pain to stop, your going to just get a load of bs for temporary relief.

 

[drstrangelov]

Torture is cheap, all it provides is cheap information.

 

[Madmick]

I apologize for starting this thread when I could have posted elsewhere.

Don't sweat it, we might as well have a dedicated thread to this specific question, but it's just a helpful suggestion to you (and the rest of the forum) for starting OP's in the War Room. It's always a good idea to buttress your OP with evidence.

 

[shunyata]

Exactly. A person being tortured will say whatever their interrogator wants them to say to stop being tortured. If someone water boarded me for 5 minutes, I'd probably confess to killing JFK and swear that 2+2=5.

This.

The most successful interrogator in the Nazi war machine, the guy the Nazis used to teach interrogation and train interogators, did not believe torture was remotely effective.

He dealt with freshly captured prisoners and was chiefly interested in troop locations that could be worthless after more than 24 hours had passed.

He retrieved more accurate information from a greater number of prisoners than any other interrogator, and he did so using humanism and kindness not waterboarding.

He offered food, tobacco, a warm drink or an alcoholic drink, talked to the person about their hometown, and approached them one human to another.

His logic was that a soldier will view an enemy interrogator as a demon who is tormenting him and will then have a moral imperative to reveal nothing useful, but if he sympathizes with his captor and believes the interrogator is just another human who genuinely understands that he the captive is in a shitty situation and is trying to help him out, he'll be much more willing to give little bits of intelligence to the friendly interrogator that he thinks are harmless but are actually quite valuable.

 

[IDL]

If it didn't work, why would agencies around the world keep doing it throughout the ages? Sadistic pleasure?

 

[OldGoat]

If it didn't work, why would agencies around the world keep doing it throughout the ages? Sadistic pleasure?

Yes.

 

[5H3RD0G]

It really depends on the intelligence and threshold for pain the person has. There are more peaceful way to attain information. Torture is used by criminals, orderly people should not do such things as you would not want it done to one self. :icon_lol: