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Happy B'day to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
buttonlass, who I hope is feeling much better for the celebration!
buttonlass, who I hope is feeling much better for the celebration!Following up on yesterday's post about torture...
According to this NY Times article, the initial (and far gentler) interrogation of Abu Zubaydah by FBI agents using 'traditional' interrogation techniques had already extracted the most important information that he had. Then senior officials at the CIA sent in their own peole because they believed Zubaydah was hiding more information, and that's when the situation escalated and the illegal torture techniques were employed.
But Zubaydah wasn't holding back, and now he was in an untenable, Catch-22 position: he couldn't give his interrogators more information because he had none, and because he wasn't give them information, they kept ratcheting up the abuse. “He pleaded for his life... ut he gave up no new information. He had no more information to give.”
Again, according to the article, there were rifts among the CIA interrogators, who felt that senior officials who were pushing for the harsher interrogation were mistaken. Abu Zubaydah had provided much valuable information under less severe treatment, and the harsher handling produced no breakthroughs, according to one former intelligence official with direct knowledge of the case. Instead, watching his torment caused great distress to his captors, the official said. Even for those who believed that brutal treatment could produce results, the official said, “seeing these depths of human misery and degradation has a traumatic effect.”
As I said yesterday, those who authorized such treatment are the ones who need to be prosecuted.
According to this NY Times article, the initial (and far gentler) interrogation of Abu Zubaydah by FBI agents using 'traditional' interrogation techniques had already extracted the most important information that he had. Then senior officials at the CIA sent in their own peole because they believed Zubaydah was hiding more information, and that's when the situation escalated and the illegal torture techniques were employed.
But Zubaydah wasn't holding back, and now he was in an untenable, Catch-22 position: he couldn't give his interrogators more information because he had none, and because he wasn't give them information, they kept ratcheting up the abuse. “He pleaded for his life... ut he gave up no new information. He had no more information to give.”
Again, according to the article, there were rifts among the CIA interrogators, who felt that senior officials who were pushing for the harsher interrogation were mistaken. Abu Zubaydah had provided much valuable information under less severe treatment, and the harsher handling produced no breakthroughs, according to one former intelligence official with direct knowledge of the case. Instead, watching his torment caused great distress to his captors, the official said. Even for those who believed that brutal treatment could produce results, the official said, “seeing these depths of human misery and degradation has a traumatic effect.”
As I said yesterday, those who authorized such treatment are the ones who need to be prosecuted.
.