CIA Torture Techniques

I have mixed emotions about using torture as a means to acquire information. I am not convinced about the effectiveness of it and I am not convinced that it should not be an option. I am saddened that we have to have any sort of discussion about it.

Here is a brief rundown of some of the techniques that the CIA is allegedly using.

“WASHINGTON, (AFP) – CIA agents have revealed details of six interrogation tactics approved by top brass for use at secret CIA jails in Asia and Eastern Europe, ABC News reported. The techniques have lead to questionable confessions and the death of one man since March 2002, the network said, after interviewing current and former CIA officials.

Former CIA officer Bob Baer told ABC the techniques amounted to “bad interrogation. I mean, you can get anyone to confess to anything if the torture’s bad enough.”

CIA sources speaking on condition of anonymity described six techniques:
“Attention Grab, Attention Slap, Belly Slap, Long Time Standing, Cold Cell, Water Boarding.”

The six “Enhanced Interrogation Techniques,” as sources called them, were used on a dozen top Al-Qaeda targets incarcerated in isolation at secret locations on military bases in regions from Asia to Eastern Europe, ABC said.

In “Belly Slap,” interrogators deliver “a hard open-handed slap to the stomach” intended to cause pain but not internal injury. In “Long Time Standing,” prisoners are forced to stand handcuffed and shackled for more than 40 hours.

In “The Cold Cell” a prisoner is made to stand naked in a cell kept near 10 degrees C (50 degrees F) and is continually doused with cold water.

Water Boarding brings results within seconds, the sources said. A prisoner is tied onto a board with his feet higher than his head, and his face is wrapped in cellophane. When water is poured over him, he begins to gag and begs to confess, sources told ABC.”