"Enhanced Interrogation," Torture, and the Reliability of Information Gathered Under Duress

Coronavirus has made me a sober and bored thinker. My drive to better myself is constantly unsatisfied. My thirst for knowledge remains unquenched, even after all I've learned. My analytical mind always needs something to analyze, so I have decided to continue my side series on the CIA and intelligence gathering and break down the concept of enhanced interrogation for a few minutes.

     Enhanced interrogation is pretty much a Euphemism for torture, although torture is probably just one component of EI. I don't think government agencies and the military just sit around and indiscriminately brutalize suspected terrorists or enemies of the state. Torture has taken place throughout time, and throughout almost every nation or culture in history during wartime at some point. 

    This doesn't justify it. Just like the institution of slavery, just because an evil has happened everywhere and everyone's been guilty of it at some point doesn't legitimize the evil. 

     I am a firm believer of the argument that torture and information gathered under duress  is naturally unreliable. The "they will say anything to get the pain to stop" argument I believe is legitimate. For one, torture is a situation or activity that is set up out of spite, bitterness, and hate for an enemy, not necessarily out of a legitimate, empirically tested method of gathering information.

     It is a system that is designed to instill fear, and torture is tied into the principle of revenge and "tit-for-tat" that drives the progression, escalation, and outcomes of almost all wars. It is not a reliable method of information gathering for a few main reasons.

The reason I mentioned above, where they'll say anything to make the pain stop, is one of the important ones.

Another one is trust. These people you are interrogating already don't trust you, already see you as an enemy, and already hate you. Torture and the components of enhanced interrogation that cause pain and discomfort only serve to reinforce that mistrust and hatred, and even compound it.

The other significant reason why torture is unreliable is that it is counterproductive to deradicalization and rehabilitation of prisoners. Torture, as an act of hatred itself, sews deep seeds of bitterness and resentment in captives that may take years to get over. Many prisoners are so radicalized and so loyal to their ideologies and causes that they may never give you accurate information, or any information at all, no matter how much pain you inflict.

The goal of holding someone captive is to not act on the vengeful, spiteful temptation to torture them, but to find a way to earn their trust and deradicalize them if you can. Easier said than done, I know, but if you want reliable intel, that is how you get it.

 You must remember, an extremist is a slave to their ideology, a slave to their belief system, and if you understand their belief system, understand their culture, understand their language, understand what incentivizes their choices, and understand the objectives of the organisation or group they are acting on behalf of, than manipulating them, maneuvering them, and earning their trust could be a lot easier.

      You have to understand their ideas, their ideologies, and their beliefs in order to possibly break the hold that their beliefs have on their mind. That's the only way you win a war against an ideology or a concept war.

        You take away the current and potential hosts of that ideology. Understanding the psychology of ideas is important when fighting extremism. Ideological struggles are all psychological at their core, and that is where enhanced interrogation should be focused on the most. 

    Reliable intelligence and information gathering doesn't come from spite, hate, and vengeance. It comes from earning trust, deradicalizing, and breaking the hold or possession an extremist ideology has on a person's mind.

Have a good night everyone!