- Oct 30, 2000
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Originally posted by: Rainsford
Originally posted by: Common Courtesy
Originally posted by: Harvey
Originally posted by: Common Courtesy
I am not trying to justify torture.
I am stating that is has been used and worked to provide the information desired. It is up to the people that obtain the info to determine the validity and/or relevance.
I provided you an example that you requested.
And I challenge your assertion. You didn't answer my questions that would establish whether it actually provided "the information desired." For the information to be useful, it would have to be confirmed and validated before it was needed. I'm sure a lot of time was lost chasing misinformation, and that it was costly to them. At least, I hope so.
Bottom line -- I don't give a rat's ass. There is no HUMAN justification for torture. We will never defeat evil by becoming the evil we seek to defeat. If we do, we lose our humanity, and who wins the battle of the moment is meaningless.
I will not concede the point or dignify the proposition that torture is useful, let alone acceptable or excusable, in any way, for any alleged "reason."
Axis powers were able to destroy resistance groups because they tortured a group member to obtain other names and or plans.
Allied infiltration agents that were being dropped in to support such groups were captured as a result of such interrogations.
Information desired was the names of members and/or tactical information. That information was provided and acted on successfully.
Without the names of members, the groups would not have been able to be destroyed after a member was captured.
Ambushes require advance information - where was the info obtained from?
I'm honestly not sure why you guys are debating THIS particular point. Surely an argument against torture doesn't have to take the position that it has never worked to obtain actionable intelligence from anyone, ever, in the history of the world.
And instead of paying attention to how effective it may or may not have been in the past, I'm extremely disturbed by the fact that the example you found to demonstrate that torture can work is from the Nazi Gestapo. While there may be a lesson to take away from how effective they found it, it's also worth considering, I think, that they found it acceptable to use in the first place. Because generally I think we'd like to stay out of select groups that include Nazis. Of course the fact that Nazis tortured people doesn't, by itself, make it morally wrong. But if they're the ONLY kinds of people doing it, we might want to reconsider just how evil an act we're really engaging in here.
Resistance & partisans groups also used such techniques against the Germans and Italians.
SVA used it w/ our people against the NVA & VC.
More than likely is has been used during the cold war.
It has been a trait to use it to obtain information. The value may be suspect; however if there are the resources to chase it down, false leads are be considered to be acceptable losses.
We (the West) are not squeaky clean; it is just that this has come into the open.