del wrote...
That's not really true, Mr. Shaggnificent. The people performing the torture/interrogation will likely check what the interrogee is saying against other information, determine the plausibility or legitimacy, and then act accordingly whether the information extracted was true or false. At least that seems like the most probable course of action in such a situation. What you're saying may apply to smaller situations, where the torturers/interrogators have no way of checking the legitimacy, but I imagine common sense will be effective in those smaller scale situations. If the information extracted is absurd, then what do you think will happen? The torture will continue until the interrogee has been broken and tells their interrogators the truth. If that doesn't happen, well, I guess they have to find another way to gather the information they are looking for.
So, in order for torture to work:
1) You have to torture a _lot_ of people
2) you have to torture a lot of people _until_ they give you something believable. So, if they don't actually know anything, they're screwed even more.
3) You already have to have the ability to confirm if the information is true... in which case you really don't need the information from the person and just skip the torture and check
Nice.
Why torture is wrong:
1) It is morally reprehensible. This should be fucking enough. But since people have no problems with breaking morals:
2) When people are tortured, they will eventually say anything for it to stop. If you're saying, "well,I'Il know if it is right" then you don't need to torture anybody in the first place.
3) What, no mention of torture actually creating more problems than it seolves? Let me put it this way, if you have proof that [insert terrorist group] tortured americans civilians, wouldn't that make more americans want to defend their country, or would it make americans fear [terrorist group]?
Now, imagine it going the other way around. The entire escapade with the abuses at Guantanamo probably created more terrorists than it actually holds.
4) The best way to get information? Get someone to defect, Torture does the exact opposite of making someone want to defect.