NYT: Advisers Fault Harsh Methods in Interrogation

[babylonsister]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/30/washington/30interrogate.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin

Advisers Fault Harsh Methods in Interrogation
Joe Marquette/European Pressphoto Agency

By SCOTT SHANE and MARK MAZZETTI
Published: May 30, 2007

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 restructured using lessons from many fields, including the tricks of veteran homicide detectives, the persuasive techniques of sophisticated marketing and models from American history.

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.

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[uberllama42]

1. Oops... I just reposted this story

Shouldn't the fact that our methods are "modeled on old Soviet practices" be a big red flag? We need to use the interrogation methods which are most effective, not the ones which make the GOP base feel like Jack Bauer.

[babylonsister]

2. And we've sacrificed the reputation of the US by ignoring Geneva

Conventions when the methods that have been used don't even work. :grr: :grr:

[fasttense]

3. It is not just the Geneva Convention the bushes are ignoring

by torturing prisoners. They are ignoring 200 years of American history where even George Washington refused to torture prisoners. Though it may have been conducted by overzealous patriotic sadists, it was never, ever, sanctioned as official policy in the United States until the bushes. There is crazy king george's legacy -this first US President to sanction, condone and encourage torture.

[babylonsister]

4. Of course you're right; this admin has screwn this country, and its

reputation, in so many ways. Why isn't that punishable?