On Torture Again

Once again, this blog has led the way in investigative journalism. It appears that everyone has been on the case since I raised some potential concerns about allied "aggressive interrogation" techniques, specifically waterboarding. Bryan picks this up from what Andrew Sullivan has maintained on his blog for a long time; it's morally abhorrent to torture another human being. But David Rose writes online for Vanity Fair, suggesting that, not only is the morality questionable, but oftentimes, it's highly unreliable as a viable source of information.

I spoke to numerous counterterrorist officials from agencies on both sides of the Atlantic. Their conclusion is unanimous: not only have coercive methods failed to generate significant and actionable intelligence, they have also caused the squandering of resources on a massive scale through false leads, chimerical plots, and unnecessary safety alerts.

Now that these techniques are so effective, leaving grown men blubbering in the corner, the compulsion to make something up, or fabricate a guilty truth must be overwhelming. Therein lies the problem.