What techniques do you think are acceptable as a means for potentially getting crucial information out of suspects? Say, a captive is suspected to know the location of a huge terrorist base or whatnot. Or suicide bomber training facility.
Personally I accept torture as a necessary evil as long as we do not develop painless technique of extracting information, such as drug-induced hypnosis or some advanced brain scan or whatnot. I hope we do, soon.
Let's face it: if the criminal does not feel serious discomfort, he will not have any reason to part with the information. It's not pretty, and innocents may suffer, but what are you gonna do? The info can potentially save many civilian lives.

Torture can always be risky (not talking about the gov't public image). Cuz it's hard to tell if a prisoner is holding information back or honestly doesn't know anything. Then, they might try to pass false info just to make the pain stop.

But I don't think that the losses from bad info outweighs the correct things that are learned. Don't have any facts to back it up, just my suspicions. So I think as long as there isn't anything extreme like mutilation, torture is acceptable when national security is threatened.

If National security is in question and lives are at stake then you have to do everything you can. If this person is standing in the way of you saving lives and what you believe in then theres only on thing that you can do. Torture them until you think they've told you the truth. To honest I think waterboarding is pretty harsh and personally ;because of a deep rooted fear of drowning, I think that you would get the best results from it.

Its the lesser of two evils.

I disagree with "Brain scanners" and whatnot, seeing as you would lose all forms of privacy and they would be put into use for stuff other then just torture.

As for torture, when its your only option besides doing nothing, you take that option.

So you would rather physically torture people than peek into their private information?
Keep in mind that only people who are suspected to have crucial information would be subjected, eg captive terrorists.

I am all for privacy myself, but between inflicting suffering and taking a peek in someone's head, i think the latter is more humane and efficient.

If the means of torture do not inflict any permanent physical damage, I really don't see what's the big deal.

Any torture methods that do not involve maiming, or any other permanent phisical/psychological implications could be considered acceptable, although most torture methods are considered 'wrong" by the public, although they do not need to know that it is happening.

I think water boarding would probably be the most acceptable, as it is completely non-lethal, and involves no permanent damage.

Or even chinese water toture, to eventually put your victim into a panic attack of claustrophobia and hydrophobia.

But these would only be acceptable as long as here were no other methods of extracting the information without torture.

What about that chemical that supposedly makes people far more likely to tell the truth?

Honestly, I don't think the U.S. or any other nation that claims to be "civil" should torture. Capture people, if they wont talk, press them as hard as you can, but dont make them think are about to die, or rape them, or humiliate them. There is nothing civil about that and if anything it just proves you intelligence agency to be shite.

This.

I never really thought about torture, I mean, I doubt Australia practices it. Not because we are an inherently 'good' country, just because we have no one to torture.

I think a lot of countries would fall in the same boat, people just don't want to kill them, so they have no need for torture.


Plus, what DarkJak said is pretty much correct.

Honestly i think it's more of a movie thing (but I'm no expert).
As far as i know, you can get a person intoxicated and impede their judgment, but that doesn't guarantee they will let the relevant info out.


Appeal to their self-interest? Promise comfort and protection?
While that may work on some, it wouldn't work on fanatical brainwashed terrorists. Basically, what do you do if words fail?