Interrogations

A lot of people have pointed to the WaPo article that came out this weekend highlighting the interrogation techniques of the officers at Ft. Hunt during WW 2:

For six decades, they held their silence.

The group of World War II veterans kept a military code and the decorum of their generation, telling virtually no one of their top-secret work interrogating Nazi prisoners of war at Fort Hunt.

When about two dozen veterans got together yesterday for the first time since the 1940s, many of the proud men lamented the chasm between the way they conducted interrogations during the war and the harsh measures used today in questioning terrorism suspects.

...

Blunt criticism of modern enemy interrogations was a common refrain at the ceremonies held beside the Potomac River near Alexandria. Across the river, President Bush defended his administration's methods of detaining and questioning terrorism suspects during an Oval Office appearance.

...

It reminded me of a book I read about 20 years ago called Spy Catcher, written by a retired MI-5 officer who'd done the interrogations of Soviet spy Kim Philby.

When I read it at the time, I was struck by how civilized the interrogations were. No pain, no 'enhanced techniques', mainly talks over dinner. It was amazing the little verbal techniques used to uncover clues Philby did not give willingly, even during the time he protested his innocence quite vociferously, that alerted MI-5 to other spies within the Kingdom.

In those days, interrogation was an art form and the product derived was mostly sound and usable, unlike what people give up under painful questioning only to make the torture stop.

Thanks to the Chimp and the neocons, and their bloodlust, we have given up our humanity for questionable motives and questionable results.