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> most famous examples <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> use <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>se techniques, to <strong>the</strong> Western mind, come from <strong>the</strong><br />
Soviet show trials during Stalin's great purge and from torture inflicted on American POWs during <strong>the</strong><br />
Korean War by <strong>the</strong> People's Liberation Army. While Rejali makes clear that <strong>the</strong>se clean techniques<br />
were far from <strong>the</strong> norm in <strong>the</strong> USSR and PRC, <strong>the</strong>ir use in <strong>the</strong>se instances is instructive. In both cases<br />
<strong>the</strong> Communist states were interested in confessions that did not appear to have stemmed from torture:<br />
<strong>the</strong> 'Trotskyites' and 'counter-revolutionaries,' because so many <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>m were high level Bolsheviks<br />
with strong claims towards political legitimacy, had to be seen to be convicted on <strong>the</strong>ir own confession<br />
in a more-or-less open court; similarly, <strong>the</strong> seemingly spontaneous denunciations <strong>of</strong> American 'war<br />
crimes' were crucial <strong>for</strong> Maoist propaganda. Western observers, at a loss to explain <strong>the</strong>se<br />
denunciations, assumed that <strong>the</strong> Communists had perfected <strong>the</strong> art <strong>of</strong> brain-washing. Had <strong>the</strong>y known<br />
<strong>the</strong>ir history better, <strong>the</strong>y might have realized that <strong>the</strong>se techniques had been used in <strong>the</strong> great witch-<br />
hunts, as well as by French and US troops in Viet Nam, by American soldiers during <strong>the</strong> Philippine<br />
Insurrection, and by <strong>the</strong> UK, French and US military against <strong>the</strong>ir own soldiers. (Rejali, 2008)<br />
<strong>Torture</strong> was not used in all circumstances, however. Its use was primarily restricted to those<br />
considered outside or beyond <strong>the</strong> polity: African Americans in <strong>the</strong> United States, colonial subjects in<br />
<strong>the</strong> various European empires, and political dissidents in Communist states. Secondly, torture <strong>for</strong><br />
in<strong>for</strong>mation tended to be used in precisely those circumstances where <strong>the</strong> state would be least able to<br />
make use <strong>of</strong> its investigative powers. <strong>The</strong> search <strong>for</strong> conspirators against socialism, whe<strong>the</strong>r real or<br />
imaginary, depended heavily on denunciations under torture since <strong>the</strong>re was <strong>of</strong>ten little evidence in an<br />
individuals actions that would incriminate <strong>the</strong>m – such is <strong>the</strong> nature <strong>of</strong> 'conspiracy.' <strong>The</strong> use <strong>of</strong> torture<br />
by American police <strong>for</strong>ces in Chicago and o<strong>the</strong>r major cities in <strong>the</strong> 1920s, and among native police <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> British Raj in India took place in <strong>the</strong> context <strong>of</strong> <strong>of</strong>ficers who had little regard <strong>for</strong> empirical<br />
ga<strong>the</strong>ring <strong>of</strong> evidence, and who faced organized criminal activities, or who simply lacked <strong>the</strong> desire to<br />
substitute <strong>the</strong> hard work <strong>of</strong> investigation <strong>for</strong> <strong>the</strong> quick work <strong>of</strong> “rubbing pepper dust in some poor<br />
devil's eyes.” (Rejali, p. 456) <strong>Torture</strong> in Viet Nam, Algeria, <strong>the</strong> Philippines, Palestine and o<strong>the</strong>r<br />
colonies took place in <strong>the</strong> context <strong>of</strong> minority rule over a potentially hostile native majority, who could<br />
not be counted on to <strong>of</strong>fer up in<strong>for</strong>mation on <strong>the</strong>ir own accord. <strong>The</strong> use <strong>of</strong> torture against slaves in <strong>the</strong><br />
American South in order to discover potential insurrections fits this pattern precisely. Lastly, torture<br />
(and o<strong>the</strong>r <strong>for</strong>ms <strong>of</strong> coercive interrogation) tend to be used in systems that valorize confessions over<br />
o<strong>the</strong>r <strong>for</strong>ms <strong>of</strong> pro<strong>of</strong>, such as in present-day Japan. (Rejali, pp. 51-5) That torture is used so <strong>of</strong>ten as a<br />
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