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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intelligence ga<strong>the</strong>ring operation that has benefited <strong>the</strong> War on Terror, even as it has denied any<br />
systematic abuse has occurred. <strong>The</strong> Department <strong>of</strong> Defense website in fact <strong>of</strong>fers a release by JTF-<br />
GTMO dated March 4 th , 2005, listing <strong>the</strong> in<strong>for</strong>mation derived from interrogations at GTMO. 98 At that<br />
time, approximately 550 detainees were being held at GTMO, <strong>the</strong> vast majority <strong>of</strong> whom would later<br />
be transferred <strong>of</strong> released outright. Examples include identifying operatives, giving insights into <strong>the</strong><br />
logistics and structure <strong>of</strong> al Qaeda, and “locations <strong>of</strong> training compounds and safe houses, terrain<br />
features, travel patterns and routes used <strong>for</strong> smuggling people and equipment, as well as (…)<br />
identifying potential supporters and opponents.” (p. 1) However, this release also asserts that<br />
“[d]etainees were ei<strong>the</strong>r actively involved in operational planning <strong>for</strong> terrorist attacks or had already<br />
participated in attacks in Europe, <strong>the</strong> United States, and/or central Asia at <strong>the</strong> time <strong>of</strong> detention,” an<br />
argument that seems hard to square with <strong>the</strong> large number <strong>of</strong> subsequent releases. (p. 2) At no point is<br />
it argued that interrogations at GTMO had resulted in <strong>the</strong> disruption <strong>of</strong> imminent terrorist plots.<br />
Indeed, while many <strong>for</strong>mer administration <strong>of</strong>ficials have argued that <strong>the</strong> use <strong>of</strong> coercive interrogations<br />
has saved lives, <strong>the</strong>ir arguments have tended to be vague in <strong>the</strong> extreme.<br />
Perhaps most disturbingly, <strong>the</strong> methods developed <strong>for</strong> use by interrogators at GTMO in fact had<br />
been derived from an unlikely source: Communist China. While researching more aggressive tactics<br />
that might be used in <strong>the</strong> War on Terror, <strong>the</strong> CIA had decided to make use <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> expertise <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> US<br />
military's Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape course (SERE), a special training program created in<br />
<strong>the</strong> aftermath <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Korean War to prepare US soldiers <strong>for</strong> abuse at <strong>the</strong> hands <strong>of</strong> enemy governments.<br />
(CIA-OIG, pp. 13, 14) During that conflict, <strong>the</strong> US government had been shocked by videos <strong>of</strong><br />
captured US airmen confessing to a variety <strong>of</strong> war crimes on camera, without apparently having been<br />
tortured. While <strong>the</strong> CIA had come to <strong>the</strong> conclusion at <strong>the</strong> time that <strong>the</strong> Chinese government had<br />
perfected <strong>the</strong> art <strong>of</strong> brainwashing, subsequently spending millions <strong>of</strong> dollars attempting to learn <strong>the</strong><br />
trick <strong>the</strong>mselves, <strong>the</strong> truth was far more prosaic: <strong>the</strong> airmen had been tortured into confessing falsely,<br />
but using methods that did not leave marks. (Rejali, pp. 86-7; 368-9) <strong>The</strong> techniques used against US<br />
airmen had been repurposed in order to inoculate soldiers against torture: now <strong>the</strong>y were being<br />
repurposed again, but this time to inflict pain once more.<br />
Crucially, <strong>the</strong> CIA <strong>the</strong>n lent its newly acquired expertise back to <strong>the</strong> military, through training<br />
courses at GTMO, completing <strong>the</strong> circle. One chart used during this training <strong>of</strong> interrogators had in<br />
98 Available at http://www.defense.gov/news/Mar2005/d20050304info.pdf<br />
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