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[kateorman]

I'm completely fascinated by an article in today's SMH defending the mistreatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. So fascinated, I'm afraid I may worry at it for some time, like a dog with a particularly knotty snake

Comments

[erinbow]

- There is another, unstated assumption: Torture is a way of extracting accurate information.

Which is, as any student of either torture or history will tell you, not an accurate assumption. The function of torture is to terrorize a population and control them through terror. It is also a known way of controlling the torturers themselves. I suspect the torture in Iraq and Gitmo serves both purposes.

[kateorman]

*nods* The article claims that Al-Qaeda attacks have been averted thanks to info gained at Guantanamo Bay, but doesn't mention whether that information was obtained through mistreating prisoners. (More on this later.)

[dark_pheonix]

Now I'm going to be pondering it too. Damn. I was going to try to relax this evening... *wanders off, muttering about people increasing my political sensibility and depriving relaxation by provoking thought*