The Torturer's Dilemma: Analyzing the Logic of Torture for Information
The Torturer's Dilemma: Analyzing the Logic of Torture for Information
The Torturer's Dilemma: Analyzing the Logic of Torture for Information
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<strong>the</strong> generals, and above all du Gaulle, who would steer French politics and policy after <strong>the</strong> collapse <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> fourth republic.<br />
More likely, <strong>the</strong> danger that intimidation would alienate <strong>the</strong> population population ra<strong>the</strong>r than<br />
gain <strong>the</strong>ir loyalties – possibly creating new FLN adherents – lay at <strong>the</strong> very heart <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> French<br />
understanding <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> revolt as a guerre révolutionaire. This conception, which emphasized <strong>the</strong> political<br />
nature <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> war, and <strong>the</strong> necessity <strong>of</strong> winning over <strong>the</strong> hearts and minds <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> populace, would in<br />
practice be undermined by <strong>the</strong> need to restore order be<strong>for</strong>e engaging <strong>the</strong> re<strong>for</strong>ms that alone could <strong>of</strong>fer<br />
a political solution: it none<strong>the</strong>less lay at <strong>the</strong> center <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> strategy put <strong>for</strong>ward by <strong>the</strong> <strong>of</strong>ficers who had<br />
served (and developed <strong>the</strong>ir <strong>the</strong>ories about revolutionary war) in Indochina. Among <strong>the</strong> 'revolutionary<br />
war' <strong>the</strong>orists who held high positions in <strong>the</strong> Forces <strong>of</strong> Order were Col. Yves Godard (Massu's second<br />
in command), Aussaresses, Trinquier and Col. Michel Bigeard – all attached to <strong>the</strong> 10 th DP. (Cradock<br />
and Smith, p. 73) While <strong>the</strong> vast bulk <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>the</strong>ory was geared towards rural guerrilla warfare, its<br />
understanding <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> goal <strong>of</strong> urban terror is instructive: urban terror (in <strong>the</strong> eyes <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>the</strong>orists) was<br />
meant to shake <strong>the</strong> population's faith in <strong>the</strong> authorities, by showing it to be unable to stop <strong>the</strong> violence,<br />
as well as to provoke <strong>the</strong> authorities into an overreaction that would fur<strong>the</strong>r alienate <strong>the</strong> people's<br />
sympathies. In terms <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> use <strong>of</strong> torture, <strong>the</strong>n, <strong>the</strong> more <strong>the</strong> French would be able to restrict torture to<br />
those that knew something useful – and thus to those who were tightly linked to <strong>the</strong> terrorist networks –<br />
<strong>the</strong> less blowback it would receive. But if torture were to become widespread an indiscriminate, <strong>the</strong>n<br />
<strong>the</strong> intelligence received would be less reliable, and come at <strong>the</strong> cost <strong>of</strong> alienation. <strong>The</strong> focus on<br />
popular support (denying it to <strong>the</strong> enemy and ga<strong>the</strong>ring it <strong>for</strong> oneself) was central to <strong>the</strong> <strong>the</strong>ory – so<br />
much so that <strong>the</strong> prime mark <strong>of</strong> revolutionary war was that control <strong>of</strong> territory was fully supplanted as a<br />
goal by control <strong>of</strong> population. (ibid., p. 76) <strong>Torture</strong> as an indiscriminate means <strong>of</strong> intimidation would<br />
fail because <strong>the</strong> FLN could present itself as an alternative to French rule. (Herreros, 2006; Kalyvas,<br />
2004)<br />
<strong>The</strong> explosion <strong>of</strong> torture victims is consequently <strong>the</strong> strongest evidence that <strong>the</strong> French were not<br />
in a position to discriminate between ignorant and knowledgeable captives. <strong>The</strong>ir incentives were<br />
clearly understood to militate towards restricting torture only to those who withheld important<br />
in<strong>for</strong>mation: and yet <strong>the</strong> French tortured on a large scale enough to ensure that innocents were being<br />
swept up in explosively large numbers. Even if <strong>the</strong> torture needed to be widespread at first (in order to<br />
penetrate <strong>the</strong> OPA/FLN structure through <strong>the</strong> population's knowledge <strong>of</strong> and contact with <strong>the</strong> taxmen,<br />
101