I recently finished the book "Hard Measures: How Aggressive CIA Actions After 9/11 Saved American Lives" by Jose Rodriguez Jr.- the man who oversaw the enhanced interrogation program and eventually headed the Clandestine Service.
By his accounts, when the techniques were applied in the manner in which they were intended to be applied, the results yielded good intelligence. He estimates that 10 or more plots were thwarted as a result of the EIT program in addition to being able to capture or kill other AQ members.
He specifically focuses on the 3 individuals who underwent waterboarding: KSM, Abu Zubayda, & al-Nashiri. According to Rodriguez, once the other EITs were applied and yielded minimal to no intelligence, waterboarding was applied and all three became, in his words, "compliant" and began to talk and produced good intelligence.
Rodriguez goes to great lengths to make clear that the purpose of the EIT program was not to inflict pain, but rather to instill a sense of "hopelessness" in the detainees. The intent being that the detainees would realize their situation would only improve if they cooperated. He went through some of the techniques that were used and to me, they are not torture.
The book was obviously written from a biased point of view soI wanted to get a sense of what other members thought about the EIT program along with a few specific questions:
1. Do you think the EITs should be classified as torture?
2. Are they legally justifiable under our legal system?
3. Are we more safe or less safe now that these techniques are off the table?
4. Is the Army Field Manual an effective tool for interrogating senior level terrorist suspects?
Finally, as Rodriguez mentions in the book, the US has relied on drone strikes to take out terrorists. Should we continue doing this or should we go back to capturing these individuals in order to extract information from them?
By his accounts, when the techniques were applied in the manner in which they were intended to be applied, the results yielded good intelligence. He estimates that 10 or more plots were thwarted as a result of the EIT program in addition to being able to capture or kill other AQ members.
He specifically focuses on the 3 individuals who underwent waterboarding: KSM, Abu Zubayda, & al-Nashiri. According to Rodriguez, once the other EITs were applied and yielded minimal to no intelligence, waterboarding was applied and all three became, in his words, "compliant" and began to talk and produced good intelligence.
Rodriguez goes to great lengths to make clear that the purpose of the EIT program was not to inflict pain, but rather to instill a sense of "hopelessness" in the detainees. The intent being that the detainees would realize their situation would only improve if they cooperated. He went through some of the techniques that were used and to me, they are not torture.
The book was obviously written from a biased point of view soI wanted to get a sense of what other members thought about the EIT program along with a few specific questions:
1. Do you think the EITs should be classified as torture?
2. Are they legally justifiable under our legal system?
3. Are we more safe or less safe now that these techniques are off the table?
4. Is the Army Field Manual an effective tool for interrogating senior level terrorist suspects?
Finally, as Rodriguez mentions in the book, the US has relied on drone strikes to take out terrorists. Should we continue doing this or should we go back to capturing these individuals in order to extract information from them?