Discussions
Enhanced Interrogation Techniques used by the United States
Posted by iyaayasmoderator • 5/14/09 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: enhanced interrogation techniques used by the united states
The CIA described a list of six "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques" instituted in mid-March 2002. According to the CIA, only a handful of CIA interrogators are trained and authorized to use these techniques:
1. The Attention Grab: The interrogator forcefully grabs the shirt front of the prisoner and shakes him.
2. Attention Slap: An open-handed slap aimed at causing pain and triggering fear.
3. The Belly Slap: A hard open-handed slap to the stomach. The aim is to cause pain, but not internal injury. Doctors consulted advised against using a punch, which could cause lasting internal damage.
4. Long Time Standing: This technique is described as among the most effective. Prisoners are forced to stand, handcuffed and with their feet shackled to an eye bolt in the floor for more than 40 hours. Exhaustion and sleep deprivation are effective in yielding confessions.
5. The Cold Cell: The prisoner is left to stand naked in a cell kept near 50 degrees. Throughout the time in the cell the prisoner is doused with cold water.
6. Water Boarding: The prisoner is bound to an inclined board, feet raised and head slightly below the feet. Cellophane is wrapped over the prisoner's face and water is poured over him. Unavoidably, the gag reflex kicks in and a terrifying fear of drowning leads to almost instant pleas to bring the treatment to a halt.
What would be other techniques that could be used if these are deemed harsh by the general public?
Are we to think our "enemies" take public concern into account while torturing and killing U.S. and allied forces?
User Comments
-
Perhaps, just maybe, we should use these new techniques I had found. Just insert interrogators in place of teachers and parents, and detainee in place of children and kids.
Love and Logic is a philosophy founded by Jim Fay and Foster W. Cline, M.D., and is based on the experience of a combined total of over 75 years working with and raising kids. It provides simple and practical techniques to help teachers and parents have less stress and more fun. Love and Logic offers many useful techniques that teachers and parents can begin experimenting with immediately. Here are some examples:
1. Locking–in sadness or empathy before delivering consequences
2. Setting limits with enforceable statements
3. Sharing control through lots of small choices
4. Building relationships with the One Sentence Intervention
5. Neutralizing arguing with the Brain Dead technique
6. The Anticipatory Consequence
For more information on Love and Logic go to:
www.loveandlogic.com/
For more information on Enhanced Interrogation Techniques, just Google it. -
I see no problem with them, as a matter of fact I find them to be quite tame.-
Has anyone ever wondered why the CIA, FBI, military, and so on, will not be allowed to do what it takes for either information are ending conflicts? I wonder if the PC police really need to be involved in every little aspect.
-
I blame the Geneva convention and human rights protesters, they are sooo worried about everyone else that it screws our own people. From what I remember, we are the only ones that follow the damn guidelines anyway... The PC police are a major contributor as to why this conflict is still going on.... oh wait and the same ones that bitch about it still going on.
-
Correct. It's a simple way of looking at it. We enforce what makes us prisoners. Why?
-
there's no "we", I am all for big bully torture. This nation has just become to civilized for survival in my opinion
-
-
You're making a false assumption: that the information gleaned out of torture would be useful. In the late 1930's, Stalin instigated a series of events called "The Great Terror", the trigger of which was the alleged murder of Sergei Kirov, party boss of Leningrad (it is entirely possible, if not probable that Stalin had Kirov killed as a potential rival).
This single murder provided the justification for the incarceration, torture, execution and sending to the gulag of millions of people. But here is the point: under torture, most of these people confessed to being involved in the plot, even though they were entirely innocent. Torture only gets people to say things to stop the torture, not say the truth.-
@ greencurmudgeon.
"You're making a false assumption: that the information gleaned out of torture would be useful."
Next, please tell me your version of "useful". Sometimes simple information gathered from one or more individuals that most would dismiss, can be put together to untangle the information being sought.
Now, I know we are going to butt heads here, but I will save you from trying to save me from thinking the way I do, please don't waste your time. Success is in the eye of the beholder of the information, not the general public. Yes, I'm just one of those people in the general public. I am prior military, I have seen the PC police in action. We send our troops to win a war against the enemy but don't let them fight.
As far as getting just information instead of useful information is best determined by trained experts in that field. -
@iyaa
You're right, we're never going to agree - because quite frankly, you come to this without any indication that you've studied the long and terrible history of torture, and what it has made people do.
Torture has made prisoners in the Spanish Inquisition confess to crimes they didn't commit.
It made prisoners of Haiti's feared Tonton Macoutes confess to crimes they didn't commit.
It made prisoners of the NKVD in the USSR confess to crimes they didn't commit.
Yet, here you stroll across the park and want America, a good nation, a decent country with a civilised reputation, to drag its name through the mud by joining the Inquisition, the Tonton Macoutes and the NKVD by saying, "Come on boys, the gloves are off"?
God save America from those who claim to love her most! -
@ greencurmudgeon.
It's not a stroll per say, unless you can say that a person who has actually been in the military and witnessed what the PC police and individuals like yourself want anyone to do about how war is fought. Ever had your friend, that you have known for 15 years, get shot and lay in your arms to die because you were not allowed to return fire? Have you ever had to go into a hostile area because you were told that no intel was gathered because they were not allowed to talk to prisoners? Do you know what it feels like to write your own Aunt to explain to her that her son was killed because of lack information?
Can you, for a moment, put down your history books and see the history being written right this very moment? Can you see that every day that passes with little or nothing done prolongs the day when a solution can be achieved? You would rather tie the hands of Americans with their very own flag than to let them end conflicts as they are trained to do. -
@iyaa
Sophistry. You're trying to compare a policy on returning fire to a policy regarding the torture of prisoners. The two are not the same. If you're in a combat situation, you have an enemy firing at you. In a prison situation, the "enemy" is disarmed and at your mercy.
I am not swayed by sentimental appeals to your service; I respect your service, but that doesn't give you the right to be full of excrement without challenge. Or would you extend that courtesy to someone you dislike, say John Murtha or Wesley Clark?
The point is - torture is ineffective, it's not in keeping with the morals of the United States, and furthermore it makes America weaker. I am an American living abroad, and let me tell you something - over the past 10 years, America's reputation and its power has declined significantly. When we talk about liberty and freedom, we want to be heard - not to be called hypocrites. There is power in that. There is power in being a nation that can be looked up to. There is strength in having virtue on our side. You want us to pitch that over the side in the name of what you perceive to be short-term expediency. As I've proven, history is littered with examples which prove that torture doesn't get you the truth, it gets the answers to stop the torture.
I'd ask you to think about it, but based on past history, that seems unlikely. -
@ greencurmudgeon.
You said "Sophistry. You're trying to compare a policy on returning fire to a policy regarding the torture of prisoners. The two are not the same. If you're in a combat situation, you have an enemy firing at you. In a prison situation, the "enemy" is disarmed and at your mercy."
Not trying to be deceptive here. Yes, the two are different. Yes, they do require different tactics. And yes, with being able to gather information, it can change the outcome of certain situations.
You then said "I am not swayed by sentimental appeals to your service; I respect your service, but that doesn't give you the right to be full of excrement without challenge. Or would you extend that courtesy to someone you dislike, say John Murtha or Wesley Clark?"
I don't expect to sway you with sentiment. Sometimes letting someone know you are a real person will real experiences lets the other person know that his/her opinions are the way they are based on the said experiences. I have found, not just here, that people I have had conversations with about the military have a hard time grasping what it is to be a soldier when they have chose to be on the sidelines for either politcal or personal reasons. You can see the news, you can read, and obviously quote quite a bit, but have you seen these things with your own two eyes, heard them with your ears, or touched them with your own hands? Then, perhaps, you can dismiss anothers opinion.
I don't come here to argue. I come here to get opininion. You, too often, jump to the notion that because I have a different perspective than your own, that I support something.
Living outside the United States? I can also relate to that, I did so for almost 12 years. Where we then start to differ is that I did not choose all my destinations. I don't know if you did or not. The opinion of the United States varies greatly around the world. Most of which is based on appearance and governmental policy. It is hard being judged by the "company we keep". If the United States worried less about "image" and was able to be honest with other countries, to include the United States, then, mabye then, our neighbors in this world would respect us more.
What does the ways the United States government tortures people have to with resourceful information gathering? The percentage is low for useful information. These practices are in full swing, under the guidelines provided by the president.
Maybe in another lifetime, there will be a perfect planet earth where all the inhabitants can get along and live in peace. And when they read their history books, everything that has happened since humans went to war, will be that, distant history.
-
-
If this is the future that lies ahead-perpetual war, paranoia, hate and torture-we might just as well blow the whole bloody thing up and get it over with. Every day I agree more with Mark Twain: "Sometimes it does seem such a pity that Noah and his party didn't miss the boat." -
The title on this thread is: Enhanced Interrogation Techniques used by the United States
The Abu Ghraib torture techniques that also proved to be ineffective when it came to extracting "useful information" were these:
* Urinating on detainees;
* Jumping on detainee's leg (a limb already wounded by gunfire) with such force that it could not thereafter heal properly;
* Continuing by pounding detainee's wounded leg with collapsible metal baton;
* Pouring phosphoric acid on detainees;
* Sodomization of detainees with a baton;
* Tying ropes to the detainees' legs or penises and dragging them across the floor;
* Forcing prisoners to masturbate;
* Forcing prisoners to take part in homosexual acts.
Remarkably, some of the American soldiers torturing Abu Ghraib prisoners claimed to be Christians. The U.S. administration characterizes the Abu Ghraib torture scandal as an isolated incident uncharacteristic of American actions in Iraq; this view is widely disputed, notably in Arab countries, but also by organizations such as the International Red Cross. The U.S. military's interrogation techniques and treatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib are consistent with its treatment of noncombatants in past conflicts, including for example in Vietnam (see Phoenix Program) and with its training of military personnel of U.S. allies (see School of the Americas).
Reference links found here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Ghraib_prisoner_abuse
Repeated references in an internal FBI email suggest that the president issued a special order to permit some of the more objectionable torture techniques used at Abu Ghraib and other US-run prison facilities around Iraq. The email was among a new batch of FBI documents revealed by civil rights advocates on Monday. Other documents describe the initiation of investigations into alleged incidents of torture and rape at detention facilities in Iraq.
The email, which was obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union, represented the first hard evidence directly connecting the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal and the White House. An Executive Order is a presidential edict sometimes public, sometimes secret instituting special laws or instructions that override or complement existing legislation. The specific methods mentioned in the email as having been approved by the unnamed Executive Order and under the Bush Administration The White House officially neither admitted nor denied that the president has issued an Executive Order pertaining to interrogation techniques.
May 5, 2009 - Abu Ghraib torture soldiers say: "we were following orders". Video link radicalfilms.co.uk/2009/05/05/abu-ghraib-torture-soldiers-say-we-were-follo...-
@ timethief.
What do think is best for the general public? Full disclosure, limited knowledge, or to be left in the dark. Does it change who you are to know that torture takes place, effectively or not?
I think that those who demonize others for their actions in a time of war should try to walk a mile in that person's shoes.
I don't personally believe that prisoners should be tortured, or held in prision for extended length of time. That is just more money wasted. Why not just do what the military was sent there to do, eliminate all threats. -
You have a right to state your opinions and promote your blog on this forum and I have a right to do the same only because the owners of Blog Catalog allow us to.
It's my opinion that when it comes to attracting likeminded flag waving American readers to your blog, you would probably be better served to publish the opinions that you uphold as being righteous and justified in your blog, rather than posting them into threads on this social forum. But you may beg to differ, because, of course, you are entitled to make either choice.
FWIW I won't be fueling any more of your forum threads, and I'm fairly sure that the majority of other other members who regularly post to forum threads may be inclined to boycott them as well.
-
-
@ timethief
I'm not promoting anything here. I never invited anyone to look at my blog. This thread was a question, it was information, and my opinion. If you went to my blog and found similar information, you did that on your own.
I can't speak for anyone else, but most times I look at the blog of the poster of a thread he or she started. Why? To see something new.
It's clear that my opinions are different from most pacifists that are commenting on threads I start. I've asked myself many times why porn, music, and what one is eating are always hot topics here. Most people choose to have an opposing viewpoint because it is what is expected by the PC police.
Do people not want to discuss topics in the news anymore? -
Calling it "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques" doesn't change a thing. It's torture, as it has been defined by the U.S. during WWII and many times after that. You think that torture is okay and you have every right to hold that opinion, but the law states that it is illegal. I believe that most Americans agree with that law and policy.-
Very eliquently stated. It is what it is.
-
Add Your Comment
Login to leave a message.
