Torture is counterproductive even for intelligence gathering

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

Categorization

• XREF: Connects media-speed thesis to the reader’s interest in how the idea circulated between Algeria and France. — 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 creates more terrorists than the bombs it uncovers (+4 more)

Related

• Torture creates more terrorists than the bombs it uncovers (similarity 0.90)
• Torture succeeding in the short term proves a double-edged long-term weapon (similarity 0.89)
• Torture proved a boomerang weapon that undermined the power using it (similarity 0.87)
• Torture yields false intelligence and creates more terrorists than it kills (similarity 0.84)
• Torture’s ambiguous truth makes it a potent propaganda weapon for both sides (similarity 0.84)
• Torture more than any single factor caused France’s Algerian defeat (similarity 0.84)
• Torture backfired as a boomerang weapon in the Algerian war. (similarity 0.82)
• Torture was effective in winning the short-term battle of Algiers (similarity 0.81)
• Fast media transmission makes torture’s blowback immediate and global. (similarity 0.81)
• Torture boomeranged against France in the Algerian war (similarity 0.81)
• The Battle of Algiers exposed torture as a lasting poison for France (similarity 0.80)
• Torture in Algeria left a lingering poison in the French system (similarity 0.80)
• Institutionalized torture corrupts every institution it touches (similarity 0.79)
• Post-1959 torture in Algeria became a private, unsanctioned practice. (similarity 0.79)
• Torture is distinguished from brutality by its systematic purpose of extraction (similarity 0.79)