A MERCIFUL GOD LEADS US NOT INTO TEMPTATION:

You Can Bet Mohammed Will Talk (Zev Chafets, NY Daily News, 3/5/2002)

American interrogators are barred by international convention from torturing prisoners. That means no "extreme pain or suffering, whether physical or mental." Extreme irritation is a different matter.

"The idea is to make the prisoner talk, not to hurt him," says X. "Harsh physical pain produces bad results. Hurt someone enough, and he'll tell you his mother shot JFK if that's what it takes to stop the torture. But if his mother didn't really shoot JFK, what's the point? You want to break a suspect psychologically. That's how you get real information."

The philosophical debate about torture would, I think, be difficult if torture were effective in eliciting information. But it isn't. So torture need not tempt us.

Orrin raised the issue of the use of Mohammed's children.

In the case of Mohammed, interrogators have another means of coercion - his two small children. The U.S. reportedly has been holding them for more then six months.

"Nobody will hurt them," says X. "But he doesn't know that. You bring the kids in, show them to him through a window. That's all you really need."

Mohammed went to college in North Carolina. Will he really believe that American interrogators are prepared to torture his children?

"Right now he doesn't even know what country he's in, or who's in charge," says X. "He may think he's dealing with a Third World intelligence service that does torture kids. He's in the red room, exhausted and confused. And he's got his own imagination to contend with. He's thinking what he would do if the situation was reversed and he was holding the children of his enemies. And that's going to be a terrifying thought."

Makes sense that the U.S. is providing foster care to Mohammed's children. Their father is apparently in no condition to care for them.

Posted by Paul Jaminet at March 10, 2003 2:15 PM