Thursday, November 17, 2016

EVIDENCE GAINED FROM TORTURE: WISHFUL THINKING, CHECKABILITY, AND EXTREME CIRCUMSTANCES



The article I am about to summarize and comment on was written by James Franklin and published in the Cardozo Journal of International & Comparative Law. This is a journal published three times a year by students of the Cardozo school of law at Yeshiva University located on lower Fifth Avenue in New York City’s Greenwich Village.

Franklin’s article begins upfront by clarifying some definitions and phrasings. He expresses the importance of identifying that the discussion of whether torture is effective as an interrogation technique is separated completely from the argument about whether or not it is ethical or moral. He makes a great point in stating that it should first be determined if torture even works before shifting the focus to its legality. He also clarifies the meaning of effectiveness by saying that torture is not akin to a trial in that evidence has to be found “beyond a reasonable doubt”. Rather he believes the information must meet a standard he calls “quite probably true”.  Franklin believes that in order for torture to be an effective interrogation tool, the information obtained must be verifiable. This is his main point of discussion which seeks to dismantle the anti-torture advocates argument that people will say anything under duress to make the pain stop. He believes that in order to say torture is effective, the interrogators must receive falsifiable information from the detainee that can be checked for authenticity. This is the only way one can say without a doubt that torture is an effective strategy.
Franklin continues his article by outlining cases from history where torturers “fact-checked” the information provided by detainees before passing judgements or making decisions. He also included times throughout history such as the European witch hunts in which tens of thousands were killed based on false confessions under duress or torture. The article continues with multiple examples of torture revealing the crucial fact necessary to thwart the plot or save the day, with only one instance of torture failing to provide useful information. That instance was the interrogation of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, a Libyan al-Qaeda operative captured while fleeing Afghanistan around the end of 2001. He provided false information to his captors that Iraq had given chemical and biological warfare training to Al-Qaeda. This information was heavily relied upon by the Bush administration as the link between Iraq and Al-Qaeda.  Franklin concludes by stating the importance of further research as the dangers posed by external threats are greater now than ever before and the ability to act quickly in the interrogation process could save countless innocent lives.

Critique:

This article definitely had a slant that was pro-torture in nature as was evidenced by some of the verbiage used by the author. Statements such as one claiming the freedoms we have now are a result of torture techniques used in the past American wars are evidence to support this conclusion. The article focused much of its body discussing the potential benefits of torture by citing multiple cases where torture or the threat of immense bodily harm caused detainees to offer up useful information. Whereas only one example was used to show how torture can also be ineffective in revealing the truth. I did like however that even though the article itself was biased in favor of torture, it specifically spelled out in the earlier portion that very little empirical research has been done on the topic. The academic community would shun any “respectable” researcher who would seek to compile real cases of torture to see if in fact it proved effective. Even in places where torture is accepted, those who’ve written on the subject with first-hand experience receive little recognition due to the subject’s taboo nature. Nobody is going to take the word of a torturer who says it is very effective because society “rightly or wrongly” sees him/her as a bad guy/girl. It seems like the issue of torture is in the same boat as the rest of the methodologies studied this semester in that more research is needed in order to prove effectiveness. This is one methodology in which I have no interest in being a part of its future. 

Citation:
Franklin, James. (2009). Evidence Gained from Torture: Wishful Thinking, Checkability, And Extreme Circumstances. Cardozo Journal of International & Comparative Law. Mar2009, Vol. 17 Issue 2, p281-290.

7 comments:

  1. Eric,
    It was interesting how the author chose to only have one case opposing the rest. I was hoping that the author would have shown less bias and more research, but as you stated, due to the nature and sensitivity of this topic the body of research is currently lacking.

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    1. He did include a couple examples of instances when torture didn't work including the interrogation of the Al-Qaeda operative as well as his mentioning of the archaic practices of torturing females accused of being witches until they confessed to make the interrogations cease. But I agree that I would have placed more credibility in the article if it wasn't clearly biased as opposed to staying neutral while showing the talking points of each side of the argument.
      -Eric S.

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  2. I think that it's interesting how Franklin specifies that the information must be "quite probably true" in order for it to be effective, but then says that it must be checked for authenticity to be effective. It would seem like Franklin is saying it must be entirely true, then.

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    1. I think he's saying that "quite probably true" means verifiable and I guess somewhat believable. But I agree this wording is confusing. It seems like he's saying as long as whatever the detainee coughs up sounds like a believable answer, and it can be checked, it works.
      -Eric S.

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  3. I would agree with Aubrey. Also the authenticity piece means its verifiable in some form, and therefore you must either have a piece of information or someone else must have the other piece of information to prove its true. Therefore it runs right into a straight guessing game, if the only means of verifying it is through the targeting and acquisition of the said piece or objective. Particularly if you don't have the proof. Seems like a very slippery slope argument.

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  4. Another issue, and one that I think confounds most of the research is that much of the information surrounding the results from "enhanced interrogation" is classified. The data exists, but it will be a long time before anyone gets to compile and study it.

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