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Torture and Interrogation

Fall 2005 White Paper Term Project for: UW CSEP 590 tu (Homeland Security / Cybersecurity) UCB PP 190/290-009

Team Members:

• Barbra Ramos (UCB GSPP)
• Christopher DuPuis (UW PMP)
• Dennis Galvin (UW PMP)
• Eiman Zolfaghari (UW PMP)
• Sean David Cardeno (UCB GSPP)

The Paper as it is shaping up

Overview

Overall question: Under what circumstances, if any, should the use of torture to obtain information from prisoners be considered acceptable?

At present the United States is engaged in what it has termed the "Global War on Terror." In this effort many prisoners are taken by the US and its allies. Clearly some percentage of these prisoners may hold information which has the potential to: 1) prevent (or lessen the impacts of) terrorist acts against civillians; 2) prevent terrorist acts against military targets; 3) provide the means to break up the terrorist network(s); 4) provide the means to disrupt terrorist command and control activities. Similar situations may exist in many other areas of the world (Chechenya, Israel, etc) where a recognized government is "at war" with terrorist organizations. It is generally agreed the governments or occupying powers hold an assymetric relationship with the groups they are fighting. Decisions of the governments will be unilateral and any concessions toward humane treatment will not necessarily be reciprocated by the terrorist groups.

This paper does not examine issues of whether the detention of prisoners is justified, but rather the conduct of interrogation sessions and the use of torture in those sessions.

Definitions:

• Interrogation
  • Dictionary
• Torture
  • Dictionary
  • US Anti-Torture Act

Short History of Torture

• Greece: torture of slaves and (some) foreigners
• Rome: torture of slaves, eventually grows to torture of lower classes and in cases of treason.
• Getting medieval: torture techniques
• Rise of torture in 11th-12th century Europe: confession & torture replace ordeal & combat in criminal trials.
• Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition
• Abolition of torture: 1750-1830.
• 20th century: Torture revived outside the legal system.
• Torture as ideological tool: Nazi Germany and USSR.
• Torture as tool of law enforcement (as distinct from courts): U.S in 1930s, South Africa, Algeria
• Getting medieval again: modern torture techniques
• More recent torture activity

Torture Legislation or Law

• Geneva Conventions and Protocols
• US Constitution and Amendments
• US Anti-Torture Act (18 USC 113C Section 2340)
• Landau Commission in Israel
• What is the case for codifying or not codifying the use of coercive techniques in interrogation?
  • Dershowitz arguments in Ticking Bomb scenario
  • If coercive techniques explicitly allowed in law, do we have the "slippery slope" to torture?
  • If coercive techniques explicitly disallowed in law, will torture occur anyway? Just hidden? Officially denied?

Organizational use of torture

• Police, Military, Anti-state forces (revolutionary, terrorist), Intelligence agencies.
• Nations involved in torture (US, Russia, Israel?, China?)
• Examples:
  • 1.US Military/CIA use of torture (Extraordinary Rendition, Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo)

Organizations monitoring torture

• Human Rights Watch
• Amnesty International
• United Nations

Motivation for and efficacy of using torture in interrogation

• Extract confessions.
• Get names of accomplices.
• Get strategic information?
• Get details of terrorist plots.
• Quality of information extracted?
• Resistance to medieval techniques compared to resistance to modern techniques.
• Torture isn't a fast process
• Strategies against torture for terrorist organizations

Benefits / Repercussions of using torture

• Diplomatic and Political
• Decreased civil liberty?
• Increased safety of society?
• Public Reactions (internal, external)
• Media image

Is there an ethical case for torture?

The ticking bomb (Dershowitz and others)

Torture in times of war, times of peace

How the work will be divided

The team assembled on Wednesday, 09-Nov, and we are still in the process of determining the overall shape of the topic to be covered in the paper. We have sketched a preliminary (subject to change) outline of areas to investigate. Each team member will then identify an area they will maintain primary responsibility for. As progress is made in each area, the information should be posted to the wiki, and other team members should offer constructive criticism, advice, etc.

We have a starting point reading / resource / reference list which will be added to over the course of the initial phases of the project.

So far, the following team members have expressed preliminary interest in portions of the overall paper:

• Christopher DuPuis: "History of Torture", "Efficacy of Torture in Interrogation"
• Dennis Galvin: "Torture Legislation / Law"
• Barbra Ramos: "Nations involved in torture", or "Organizations Monitoring Torture"
• Sean Cardeno: "Organizational Use of Torture"
• Eiman Zolfaghari "Benefits / Repercussions of Using Torture"