Torture creates more terrorists than the bombs it uncovers

Evidence

Because of the slowness of communications in the 1950s and 1960s, it took a year or more for the message of abuses perpetrated in Algeria to sink in. Now, with the Internet and al-Jazeera, one set of photos from Abu Ghraib is enough to inflame hatred across the Islamic world against the West, providing excuse for all the beheadings and atrocities carried out by al-Qaeda. From the Inquisition to the Gestapo and the “Battle of Algiers,” history teaches us that, in the production of reliable intelligence, regardless of the moral issue, torture is counter-productive. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 52 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

This is certainly true of the short term, but in the longer term—as the Nazis in the Second World War, and as almost every other power that has ever adopted torture as an instrument of policy, have discovered—it is a double-edged weapon. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 609 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Torture yields false intelligence and creates more terrorists than it kills — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 611; Torture proved a boomerang weapon that undermined the power using it; Torture is counterproductive even for intelligence gathering — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 52 (+4 more)

Related

• Torture is counterproductive even for intelligence gathering (similarity 0.90)
• Torture proved a boomerang weapon that undermined the power using it (similarity 0.88)
• Torture succeeding in the short term proves a double-edged long-term weapon (similarity 0.87)
• Torture yields false intelligence and creates more terrorists than it kills (similarity 0.87)
• Torture’s ambiguous truth makes it a potent propaganda weapon for both sides (similarity 0.84)
• Torture was effective in winning the short-term battle of Algiers (similarity 0.82)
• Torture more than any single factor caused France’s Algerian defeat (similarity 0.81)
• Torture boomeranged against France in the Algerian war (similarity 0.80)
• Torture backfired as a boomerang weapon in the Algerian war. (similarity 0.80)
• Communications speed changed how torture scandals inflame Muslim opinion (similarity 0.80)
• Fast media transmission makes torture’s blowback immediate and global. (similarity 0.79)
• Torture was the chief factor in France’s defeat. (similarity 0.79)
• Brutalizing war and fear of losing drove army torture institutionalization (similarity 0.79)
• Torture in Algeria threatened France with state self-destruction (similarity 0.79)
• The Battle of Algiers exposed torture as a lasting poison for France (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Torture is counterproductive even for intelligence gathering #corroborates (0.90) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 52
• Torture boomeranged against France in the Algerian war #exemplifies (0.85)
• Torture succeeding in the short term proves a double-edged long-term weapon #expands (0.75) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 609
• Blind terrorism provokes blind repression, polarizing and hardening a conflict #qualifies (0.60)
• Political grievances drive terrorism more than religious ideology does #complicates (0.55) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 284