From: "Geo." 

"Adam Flinton"  wrote in
message news:40cb3ed4$1{at}w3.nls.net...

> A) Torturers & abusers generally end up losing. No one was too keen on
> the Japanese once they were found to be doing nasty things like the
> various death marches etc.
>
> B) The information you get is generally poor as people will say anything
> to stop you branding their genitals or tying them to a metal bed,
> throwing on some water & plugging into some electricity.

If torture didn't work nobody would use it.

> C) It becomes endemic. Suddenly your people also start killing people
> out of hand & discipline ends up breaking down as soldiers start killing
> officers for a bit of a giggle. Equally people who do it tend to carry
> on doing nasty things in civie life. You stop having a military force &
> end up with a useless bunch of thugs & murderers who get used to
> "fighting" unarmed prisoners.

so don't let it become wide spread.

I know what you are saying, if everyone believes it's not acceptable to
kill then we can have an agreement not to kill,  but.. if others don't
agree then aren't we forced to kill to survive?

> D) If you're fighting for a totalitarian system then OK but if not then
> you are not fighting for anything assuming survival of the state is not
> in question.

With al Qaeda are we not fighting for survival of the state?

> There is also the question of is it efficacious. If you end up with
> wrong information & a bunch of thugs & murderers you are then going to
> in effect let loose on your own civies then...

well that's the nature of any information is it not?

> It becomes a circular justification. i.e. the more it is done the more
> the reprisals against the troops get worse so the more it gets done etc
> until eventually you're signing up for some ethnic cleansing. German
> anti-partisan operations in WW2 are a textbook example.

ethnic cleansing is only ethnic cleansing when it's done for ethnic reasons.

> Where you are hoping to somehow make friends with the locals once the
> fighting/war is over then forget it.

Well now that depends, if you just go and their friends and family then yes
but if you torture the guys who have been oppressing the locals for the
past 20 years then perhaps not.. you certainly can't rely only on the word
of those who were tortured as to whether or not that is what is happening.

Geo.

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