This topic might have been covered in other diaries; if so, I apologize, and will delete if necessary.
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There's a difference between how you might acquire real information, versus false information.
The former might not require much more than kindness, and an extended hand. The latter....Well, maybe torture is the way to go.
Abu Jandal's guards were so intimidated by him, they wore masks to hide their identities and begged visitors not to refer to them by name in his presence. He had no intention of cooperating with the Americans; at their first meetings, he refused even to look at them and ranted about the evils of the West. Far from confirming al-Qaeda's involvement in 9/11, he insisted the attacks had been orchestrated by Israel's Mossad. While Abu Jandal was venting his spleen, Soufan noticed that he didn't touch any of the cookies that had been served with tea: "He was a diabetic and couldn't eat anything with sugar in it." At their next meeting, the Americans brought him some sugar-free cookies, a gesture that took the edge off Abu Jandal's angry demeanor. "We had showed him respect, and we had done this nice thing for him," Soufan recalls. "So he started talking to us instead of giving us lectures."
From After Waterboarding: How to Make Terrorists Talk? http://www.time.com/...
I am imagining Abu Jandal's life in Al Qaeda: perhaps he had been threatened many times by his superiors, even bin Laden himself, that if he ever uttered one false word to anyone he would be sentenced to death, or worse.
I imagine a little boy growing up in the harsh dry winds of poverty and iron-handed philosophy, perhaps living a life of hard experiences, and only expecting the same from his devil American interrogators.
And here, someone thinks about him enough to offer him a treat that won't exacerbate his illness--someone who, perhaps, spoke to him with kindness, and understanding....Well, you can imagine how Abu Jandal must have felt at such treatment, even if it was the devil enemy offering it to him.
I am probably entirely wrong in my surmises about Abu Jandal's life; however, I can't help but feel that anybody might bend to kind treatment instead of torture, you know? After all, remember that when the US troops came to Europe during WWII, the Germans and others would rather surrender to us than the Russians, simply because they knew they would not be treated harshly by us.
I can't help but wonder if Cheney et al were aware of this, and specifically ordered torture to suspected terrorists, because what they wanted in the first place was false confessions, under duress, to tie Iraq to 9/11. Seems to me that the better method--if you really wanted the truth--was a little bit of thoughtfulness, and care, especially to those who perhaps never had received that kind of treatment in their lives.
Anyway, these are just my musings. I will admit I am woefully ignorant on the subject, and might be completely wrong about a lot of things. So your thoughts on the matter would be appreciated.
Thanks for reading.