Terror in Terrorists: The Dark Side Of Interrogations
We hear a lot about America’s overpowering military technology and the professionalism of its warriors; the sophistication of its weaponry, eavesdropping and telemetry. Right now the most vital weapon in its arsenal may well be the art of interrogation.
To counter an enemy who relies on stealth and surprise, the most valuable tool is information, and often the only source of that information is the enemy himself.
And the people who do that the best are the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). They have been one of the top gatherers of information from terrorists.
They have taken terrorists to many different locations around the world for interrogations.
Some locations are in different states and countries. The CIA even does interrogation in specially designed prisons aboard aircraft carriers.
Terrorists are moved around a lot while being interrogated. It doesn’t really matter where they are taken because the place would not have been familiar or identifiable to them. They are however always hooded while they are being moved around as a precaution.
Place and time become adrift and sanity begins to unfasten. They might as well be entering a new dimension, a strange world where every word, move, and sensation would be monitored and measured; where things may or may not be as they seem; where there would be no such thing as day or night, or a normal pattern of eating and drinking; where hot and cold, clean and dirty, truth and lies, would all be tangled and distorted.
Terrorists are warned that lack of co-operation might mean being turned over to the more direct and brutal interrogators of some third world nation.
Sometimes they would be locked naked in a cell with no trace of daylight. The space can be filled night and day with harsh light and noise, and would be so small that they would be unable to stand upright, sit comfortably, or recline fully.
They are kept awake, usually cold and wet. Feedings are infrequent and irregular, with thin tasteless meals.
The human mind craves routine and can adjust to almost anything in the presence of it. So the jailers would take care that no semblance of routine developed.
Questioning is intense – sometimes loud and rough, sometimes quiet and friendly, with no apparent reason for either. Sometimes by one person or two/three.
The only time that conditions will ease is when terrorists are helpful and the information given would prove true. If the information proved false then the treatment would worsen.
On occasion they might be given a drug to elevate mood prior to interrogation; marijuana, heroin and sodium pentothal have been shown to overcome a reluctance to speak, and methamphetamine can unleash a torrent of talk in the stubbornest subjects, the very urgency of the chatter making a complex lie impossible to sustain.
These drugs could be administered surreptitiously with food or drink, and given the bleakness of existence, they might even offer a brief period of relief and pleasure, thereby creating a whole new category of longing—and new leverage for the interrogators.
Common Errors Made Detecting Lies
1. Examining the wrong cues
Cues such as gaze aversion and grooming gestures are not reliable
2. Overemphasis on nonverbal
Stereotypical beliefs about behavior can lead to false suspicion
3. The Othello error
Honest people can be just as nervous as liars can be
4. Use of Heuristics
“All liars Look Away” is not a reliable measure
5. Neglect of personal variations
People respond differently in different contexts
6. Neglect of personal differences
Introverts can be more at risk for false detection
7. Existing interview methods
Over-reliance on a manual can impair lie detection
8. Poor Results
Professionals correctly classified liars 56% of the time with a 50% margin of error
If interrogators step over the line from coercion to outright torture, they should be held personally responsible. But no interrogator is ever going to be prosecuted for keeping a terrorist awake, cold, alone, and uncomfortable.
What do you think about this method?
And should interrogators be held personally responsible?
Let us know in the comments below.
