27/12/2005

The Dark Art of Interrogation

This article may not exactly be fresh from the printer, but it deals with a topic that has become more pressing again due to current events, namely the permissibility & techniques of torture and coercion, as the lesser practices are called euphemistically. It is a long, but hauntingly captivating (no pun intended) read. As it happens, it comes to a similar conclusion as I did "earlier", i.e. before having read the article.

The recent trans-atlantic debate on US torture practices sheds new light on another interesting point the article makes, namely the allegedly useful & necessary hypocrisy required in dealing with the matter. Perhaps the current US administration, having lost most of its credibility anyway, is hazarding what remains of its relations with Europe in order to raise the credibility of its counter-terrorist threat with certain other audiences by releasing (aka leaking) some relevant information to useful fools? But this of course is an entirely unwarranted speculation on my part which has the validity of a conspiracy theory, i.e. none.

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