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Undertoad · 05-17-2004, 06:59 AM

Working theory:

- (per the New Yorker) the US developed an elite interrogation squad to deal with Afghanistan and finding al Qaeda etc.

- This squad determined that humiliation was a "silver bullet" in interrogating Arabs... worked very well without torture

- This team went to Baghdad to deal with A) Saddam Hussein or B) increased Baghdad baddies, to try to quell the violence there (which is what the New Yorker thinks)

- The *idea* for humiliation was shared between the elite and the rest of the prison management, and the notion went around. It could have been shared between management, or it could have been shared over Thanksgiving dinner or something between the elites and the local US units.

- Maybe the AG guards successfully used it to obtain information and somebody got inadvertently rewarded.

- One squad got out of control and went too far with it as is the psychological danger in prison guards

The reason I think one squad got out of control is because the more recent pictures are supposed to be much worse. You can't have broad abuse happening without it becoming a bigger story in shorter than 5 months.

The reason I think they didn't intend to use humiliation in the AG prison is because it wouldn't have made any sense in a systemic way. You'd have to be an ace interrogator to use it correctly. Otherwise a prisoner will just tell you whatever will stop the humiliation. The higher-ups would understand that implicitly.

So my theory is that the New Yorker is correct that there was a program authorized at the highest levels to have this elite team use humiliation, but the weak link in the story is how this humiliation worked its way into the AG prison and became more terrible abuse.

05-17-2004, 06:59 AM	#6
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	Working theory: - (per the New Yorker) the US developed an elite interrogation squad to deal with Afghanistan and finding al Qaeda etc. - This squad determined that humiliation was a "silver bullet" in interrogating Arabs... worked very well without torture - This team went to Baghdad to deal with A) Saddam Hussein or B) increased Baghdad baddies, to try to quell the violence there (which is what the New Yorker thinks) - The idea for humiliation was shared between the elite and the rest of the prison management, and the notion went around. It could have been shared between management, or it could have been shared over Thanksgiving dinner or something between the elites and the local US units. - Maybe the AG guards successfully used it to obtain information and somebody got inadvertently rewarded. - One squad got out of control and went too far with it as is the psychological danger in prison guards The reason I think one squad got out of control is because the more recent pictures are supposed to be much worse. You can't have broad abuse happening without it becoming a bigger story in shorter than 5 months. The reason I think they didn't intend to use humiliation in the AG prison is because it wouldn't have made any sense in a systemic way. You'd have to be an ace interrogator to use it correctly. Otherwise a prisoner will just tell you whatever will stop the humiliation. The higher-ups would understand that implicitly. So my theory is that the New Yorker is correct that there was a program authorized at the highest levels to have this elite team use humiliation, but the weak link in the story is how this humiliation worked its way into the AG prison and became more terrible abuse.