Reply #1: As I commented elsewhere, torture is of course useless [View All]

[Jackpine Radical]

for extracting useful information in an interrogation. Everybody knows that. Under torture, people will tell you whatever they think you want to hear so you will stop torturing them.

Even George Bush probably knows that.

So why do these people want to be able to torture their victims? Why is it important to them to have this useless interrogation method at their disposal?

Because, while torture is of no value in getting people to tell you things, it still does have some use. In particular, it is a wonderful way of terrorizing folks. You'll think twice before you mess with people who have a reputation for pulling out fingernails and wiring your nipples to little crank generators.

Torture isn't about getting information out of people. It's about instituting a reign of terror.