Reply #48: There ya go

[TorchTheWitch]

That's what torture is for and has been for centuries... forcing a false confession. It's also used to terrorize a people and keep them cowed (see Saddam and the old Soviets).

Zubaydah spewed information when he believed he was SAVED not when he was tortured, further emphasizing that non-abusive psychological methods work reliably. And since historically torture is used to force a false confession, it's apparent why Zubaydah was tortured AFTER giving the reliable information... they wanted him to give false information.

Certainly truthful information can be had by torture, but because it is so unreliable since someone being tortured will say ANYTHING to make the torture stop, it's worthless... information that can't be determined to be useful or not is worthless. Why torture as a means to get truthful information when what information gained can't be relied on when other non-abusive methods gain information that CAN be relied on? That's what is meant when we say torture doesn't work... it doesn't work because any information gained is worthless because it can't be relied on to be truthful.

Once torture is considered acceptable against enemies it is only a small step to consider it acceptable for the "bad apples" within the society... and then only another small step to being considered acceptable for anyone within the society. Accepting torture on ANY level is the first step down that evil path to acceptance for ALL level within a society.

Accepting torture on any level is like an acoholic believing that just one drink strickly for medicinal purposes is acceptable... that one drink leads down a path that inevitably ends in being shitfaced lying in a pool of puke.