Brutalizing war and fear of losing drove army torture institutionalization

Evidence

And this is what happened. Because of the numbers of suspects involved, the D.O.P. “experts” often had to rely on outside help; “in certain cases”, admits Massu, “each of the regimental interrogation teams of the 10th Paratroop Division was obliged to have recourse to violence”. It was at this point, one might say, that torture became institutionalised in the army in Algeria. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 592 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

What is so clear to me, going through my hundreds of pages of notes from various declassified documents, is how wars introduce a red shift in human cruelty. It happens in battle, but also among civilians. — Nicholson Baker, Baseless- My Search for Secrets in the…, 338 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Suppressing conscience in brutal counterinsurgency leads directly to the adoption of torture.; Distant warfare shifts psychiatry from victims’ trauma to perpetrators’ guilt.; Suppressing conscience in soldiers led directly to military torture (+9 more)

Related

• Army hierarchy institutionalized cover-up of torture and abuses (similarity 0.92)
• Torture became institutionalized in the French army during the Battle of Algiers (similarity 0.88)
• Institutionalized torture corrupts every institution it touches (similarity 0.86)
• Post-1959 torture in Algeria became a private, unsanctioned practice. (similarity 0.84)
• Torture more than any single factor caused France’s Algerian defeat (similarity 0.84)
• The army came to see prisoners only as sources of intelligence (similarity 0.84)
• Suppressing conscience in soldiers led directly to military torture (similarity 0.83)
• The Battle of Algiers exposed torture as a lasting poison for France (similarity 0.83)
• Torture was the chief factor in France’s defeat. (similarity 0.83)
• Torture in Algeria left a lingering poison in the French system (similarity 0.82)
• Torture won the Battle of Algiers but lost the war for France (similarity 0.82)
• Torture proved a boomerang weapon that undermined the power using it (similarity 0.81)
• Torture’s contested truth made it a lasting canker for France (similarity 0.81)
• Torture was effective in winning the short-term battle of Algiers (similarity 0.81)
• Conscripts forced to commit torture brought psychological scars back to metropolitan France (similarity 0.81)

Broader Connections

• Torture became institutionalized in the French army during the Battle of Algiers #exemplifies (0.80) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 592
• Army hierarchy institutionalized cover-up of torture and abuses #expands (0.70)
• Wars increase human cruelty, altering perceptions of normal behavior. #corroborates (0.60) — Nicholson Baker, Baseless- My Search for Secrets in the…, 338
• Torture succeeding in the short term proves a double-edged long-term weapon #complicates (0.40) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 609
• Secrecy in warfare enables atrocities on various scales. #expands (0.40) — Nicholson Baker, Baseless- My Search for Secrets in the…, 233