Torture was effective in winning the short-term battle of Algiers

Evidence

There remains the vital question, with much relevance to today: what did torture achieve in the Battle of Algiers? Putting aside any consideration of morality, was it even effective? Massu, with a courage that demands respect, claims that the end justified the means; the battle was won and a halt was brought to the F.L.N.-imposed terror and the indiscriminate killing and maiming of both European and Muslim civilians. He also notes that, when critics compared them to the Nazis, his paras practised neither extermination nor the taking of hostages. And Edward Behr, who could by no stretch of the imagination be regarded as an apostle of torture, nevertheless reckons “that without torture the F.L.N.’s terrorist network would never have been overcome.… The ‘Battle of Algiers’ could not have been won by General Massu without the use of torture.” — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 608

Categorization

• QUESTION: Horne poses the complicity/effectiveness question explicitly as relevant to today — worth holding for counterterrorism debates.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 608
• XREF: connects to: Torture won the Battle of Algiers but lost the war for France; Torture boomeranged against France in the Algerian war; The Battle of Algiers exposed torture as a lasting poison for France — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 580 (+6 more)

Related

• Torture won the Battle of Algiers but lost the war for France (similarity 0.92)
• Torture was the chief factor in France’s defeat. (similarity 0.91)
• Torture boomeranged against France in the Algerian war (similarity 0.89)
• Torture proved a boomerang weapon that undermined the power using it (similarity 0.89)
• Torture more than any single factor caused France’s Algerian defeat (similarity 0.89)
• Torture in Algeria left a lingering poison in the French system (similarity 0.89)
• The Battle of Algiers exposed torture as a lasting poison for France (similarity 0.88)
• Torture succeeding in the short term proves a double-edged long-term weapon (similarity 0.86)
• Torture’s contested truth made it a lasting canker for France (similarity 0.86)
• Torture became institutionalized in the French army during the Battle of Algiers (similarity 0.86)
• Torture’s Nazi echoes caused France’s defeat despite its military supremacy (similarity 0.85)
• Torture destroyed the Muslim third force and turned French opinion against the war (similarity 0.85)
• Torture backfired as a boomerang weapon in the Algerian war. (similarity 0.84)
• Soummam’s military doctrine produced the F.L.N.’s catastrophic Battle of Algiers (similarity 0.83)
• The Battle of Algiers marked the end of any possibility of negotiated settlement (similarity 0.83)

Broader Connections

• Torture won the Battle of Algiers but lost the war for France #corroborates (0.90)
• Torture succeeding in the short term proves a double-edged long-term weapon #expands (0.90) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 609
• Military victory in the Battle of Algiers ultimately aided F.L.N. long-term goals. #corroborates (0.90)
• Torture boomeranged against France in the Algerian war #contradicts (0.80)
• Torture backfired as a boomerang weapon in the Algerian war. #contradicts (0.80) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 1659
• The Battle of Algiers exposed torture as a lasting poison for France #complicates (0.70) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 580
• Torture in Algeria left a lingering poison in the French system #complicates (0.70)
• Torture more than any single factor caused France’s Algerian defeat #contradicts (0.60) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 51
• Torture was the chief factor in France’s defeat. #contradicts (0.60)