Uncertainty About Interrogation Rules Seen as Slowing the Hunt for Info

[Khephra]

Uncertainty About Interrogation Rules Seen as Slowing the Hunt for Information on Terrorists

Confusion about the legal limits of interrogation has begun to slow government efforts to obtain information from suspected terrorists, American intelligence officials said Sunday.

Doubts about whether interrogators can employ coercive methods, the officials said, could create problems at the start of a critical summer period when counterterrorism officials fear that Al Qaeda might attack the United States.

Interrogators are uncertain what rules are in effect and are worried that the legal safeguards that they had believed were in place to protect them from internal sanctions or criminal liability may no longer exist, the officials said.

Some intelligence officials involved in the C.I.A.'s interrogation program have told colleagues that they are bitter because their superiors, in the months after the September 2001 attacks, had assured them that aggressive interrogation techniques were necessary and legal.

Other intelligence officials have expressed a sense of resignation, saying they had a feeling that, from the early days in the war on terror, aggressive steps taken in an effort to protect the country from another attack would lead to criticism and internal investigations.

more.........

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/28/politics/28CIA.html

[Don_G]

1. It Shouldn't

Torture is ineffective as an information source. The interregator has a mindset of what "he" wants and the "source" eventually crafts his story to match the questions to avoid pain.

The most effective technique during WW II was to become a "buddy" and simply ask honest questions and to cross-reference information.

[struggle4progress]

2. A gaggle of anonymous Bushistas whine for the Times. eom

[Khephra]

3. kick