WASHINGTON, May 29 — As the Bush administration completes secret new rules governing interrogations, a group of experts advising the intelligence agencies are arguing that the harsh techniques used since the 2001 terrorist attacks are outmoded, amateurish and unreliable.
The psychologists and other specialists, commissioned by the Intelligence Science Board, make the case that more than five years after the Sept. 11 attacks, the Bush administration has yet to create an elite corps of interrogators trained to glean secrets from terrorism suspects.
While billions are spent each year to upgrade satellites and other high-tech spy machinery, the experts say, interrogation methods — possibly the most important source of information on groups like Al Qaeda — are a hodgepodge that date from the 1950s, or are modeled on old Soviet practices.
Some of the study participants argue that interrogation should be We are using torture techniques that even NYV cops think suck. This is how fucked up stupid the Bushies are. They can’t even torture properly.
The science board critique comes as ethical concerns about harsh interrogations are being voiced by current and former government officials. The top commander in Iraq, Gen. David H. Petraeus, sent a letter to troops this month warning that "expedient methods" using force violated American values.
In a blistering lecture delivered last month, a former adviser to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called "immoral" some interrogation tactics used by the Central Intelligence Agency and the Pentagon.
Guess what the investigators are sayimng that is getting out now: there is little evidence, they say, that harsh methods produce the best intelligence.
Despite the idea proffered by 24 that the more pain one uses the better the information, experts say it doesn’t work.
But some of the experts involved in the interrogation review, called "Educing Information," say that during World War II, German and Japanese prisoners were effectively questioned without coercion.
As much as these cowards and asshats like to compare this war with WWII they can’t even torture the same way.
Mr. Kleinman, who worked as an interrogator in Iraq in 2003, called the post-Sept. 11 efforts "amateurish" by comparison to the World War II program
Some say these techniques have produced valuable intelligence.
Defenders of the harshest interrogations, particularly as practiced by the C.I.A. at secret overseas sites, say they were carefully devised and have produced valuable intelligence. An agency spokesman, Paul Gimigliano, said the program "has generated a rich volume of intelligence that has helped the United States and other countries disrupt terrorist activities and save innocent lives."
My question would be this: if you believe that the US should be torturing people- then at what point would you see no difference between you and the terrorists?
"Our intention is not to point fingers at anyone," he said. "We’re just saying we have to bring interrogation up to the level of professionalism in other intelligence disciplines."
Shame.
That is all I can say.
Shame on us all.
http://www.nytimes.com/...