This hurts a little. Canadian foreign minister Max Bernier is backing off on his ministry’s assertion that the US and Israel are to be counted among the countries that permit torture.
The document under attack is a manual on torture awareness used by diplomats, but is not official policy.
US ambassador to Canada David Wilkins says, “We find it offensive for us to be on the same list with countries like Iran and China.”
So quit torturing people.
Here’s what people need to be aware of:
Torture doesn’t work. It really, really doesn’t. Anyone who thinks it does watches too much tv. All it does is force people to parrot the words you want them to parrot. You may not like the simple logic of this, but let me attach these electrodes to your nipples and count the seconds it takes for me to convince you that you should sign this document saying you are an infidel. Hell, you’ll beg me to let you, and you’ll make up anything else that might get you off the juice sooner.
What torture does, just like the death penalty, is grant some measure of satisfaction to the abuser. We get to hit back. Even if it’s the wrong guy. We get to feel like we’re taking action.
Humans are phenomenally ugly to each other. Whether or not it’s officially sanctioned policy, without independent oversight there will be torture. Useless, ugly, counter-productive torture. And so long as the US is operating under the Patriot Act, it’s safe to assume that interrogations will go too far too often. Most people assume the same thing happens in Israel. That said, I in no way claim that similar things do not happen under Canadian authority. As the article says, Amnesty International is pursuing a case against Canada in Afghanistan. Which hammers the point- there should be independent oversight.
So how do we get the answers we need if torture is counter-productive? Take your pick of other more glamorous methods- spies, electronic surveilance, ninjas. The information is out there. That’s the point- it’s out there. Not stuffed in a dark, wet, stinking cell with electrodes on its nipples.