The truth over the past 400 years:

Terrorism is real. The witch does not. But whether in reality or in fantasy, torture is not effective.

According to the writer, journalist Daniel P. Mannix, when witch hunts were booming across Europe in the 17th century, the Duke of Brunswick in Germany invited two Jesuit priests (Jesuit) to overseeing the Inquisition to use torture to interrogate those accused of witchcraft."Judges are doing their job. They only arrest those accused in the confessions of other witches," the priests said.

The Duke found suspicious. He suspected the offender would say anything to end the pain; therefore, he invited Jesuit priests to participate in the local prison detention to witness a woman being stretched on a hanger."Come on, the woman, you admitted yourself as a witch," he began to interrogate. "I suspect these two are witches too. Do you say it right? Turn a round for me, Executioner". The two priests did not believe what they were hearing. "No no!" , the woman groans. "You're right. I often see them in Sabbat. They can turn into goats, wolves, and other animals . and even make some witches have children. One has even 8. children with them. Children with heads like toads and legs are like spiders . " Turning to the priests who were shocked, the Duke asked, "Do we need to torture until you confess?"

The torture caused many defendants to make false statements, leading to false intelligence.

One of the two Jesuits was Friedrich Spee. He objected to this painful form of psychological torture by publishing a book in 1631. Titled Cautio Criminalis, the book contributed to ending the witch's nightmare and proving why investigating tons of supply is not an effective measure. That is why, besides inhumane factors, this measure is banned in all Western countries, including the United States - the country that enacted a ban on "cruel and unusual punishments." " in the 8th Amendment to the Constitution.

So what about waterboarding ? It is an "extensive questioning" measure , not torture, is this true? When journalist Christopher Hitchens went through the water rallies for Vanity Fair's writings, he was warned (in a document he signed) that he could "get hurt (psychologically, sexually). cold and physical) serious, permanent, even death due to injuries affecting the nervous and respiratory systems ". Although Hitchens was an advocate of terrorism, he still had to conclude: "If the country is not counted as torture, there is nothing called torture."

However, what happens when a bomb timed to blow up a big city and only the terrorist knows where it is located - so torture is not humane for the terrorist? A person who suffers pain or even death to save millions is just right, isn't it? This is called Jack Bauer's torture theory . In the popular American TV series "24" , Kiefer Sutherland's character is a brave anti-terrorist agent, the philosophy of "the purpose of justifying the means" that makes him a modern-day Tomás de Torquemada. . In most situations, the character Bauer (and the audience) knows that a terrorist is holding accurate information about where and when the attack is imminent. By using painful torture methods, he obtained intelligence in time to avoid the threat. But that's just a Hollywood fantasy story. In fact, the person arrested may or may not be a terrorist, with or without accurate information about the terrorist attack and whether or not to disclose useful information, especially when it is to avoid being torture.

In contrast, a 2014 study in Applied Cognitive Psychology entitled "Who's, What and Why's Questions related to Human Intelligence gathering" surveyed 152 questioners. and draw conclusions " the relationships and methods of building relationships that are used most often, are considered to be most effective regardless of the context and expected results, especially compared to the methods. confrontation ". Another study in 2014 entitled "Interviewing the accused intellectuals" was conducted on 64 practitioners and prisoners. The study found that "these defendants tend to reveal valuable information and . sooner when questioned by relationship building methods."

Finally, a comprehensive 2014 report by the US Senate Special Intelligence Committee analyzed millions of CIA internal documents relating to torture of torture conclusions "the use of methods The CIA's advanced interrogation is not effective in gathering intelligence or obtaining cooperation from the defendants ". The report also adds "many defendants CIA have misrepresented information, leading to false status information."