Another lengthy excerpt from Horne's A Savage War of Peace on the effectiveness of torture. Linked references and bracketed material added:

How effective was torture?

There remains the vital question, with much relevance to today: what did torture achieve in the Battle of Algiers? Putting aside any consideration of morality, was it even ( Read more... )

Lately, I have been reading A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962, by Alistair Horne. My paperback's cover says that it's "On the reading lists of President Bush and the US military."
With the focus on counter-insurgency operations lately, military men and analysts are dusting off books on Algeria to see what lessons might be learned from ( Read more... )