Trump: Defense secretary can 'override' me on torture

I like the points made regarding the article, but we do have to remember that there is a difference between actual torture and "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques" or EITs. Torture is how we all think of it to be: Beating, pulling out fingernails, burning with cigarettes, acid, etc. Can waterboarding be considered torture? Some say yes and other say no. Heck, some say its circumstantial depending how long you conduct it. Mind you, those who think EITs are torture, I am confident you truly have no idea what "techniques" were even used (besides the one popular waterboarding). Sleep deprivation was a technique, so was excessive noise. Sometimes a detainee was given the option of having a good meal if they shared info, or given a half-assed one if they didn't cooperate.

Take into account all of these detainees were subject to good medical treatment and the EITs were strongly monitored. However, many of us depiect in our own way what EITs were, what the actual process of waterboarding actually entailed (and not what you saw in the movies stating "based on actual events"). Heck, some EITs were simply ignoring the detainee. Some detainees couldn't wait to start talking about crazed fanatics, and all the interrogators would do is show lack of care. That alone could piss off or mentally weakne a subject. And it worked. There is a great video on the use of EITs, the difference between EITs and torture and the facts of their use (and flaws of whats found in movies) that I strongly recommend.

http://www.aei.org/events/2013/01/29/watching-zero-dark-thirty-with-the-cia-separating-fact-from-fiction/

I personally do not condone the use of torture, even if evil men choose to use it on me. I'd pity the bastard who uses it. But, there are plenty of ways to make a person uncomfortable, or more comfortable that is actually part of interrogation techniques. The idea of "good cop bad cop" is a form of EIT.

I just wanted to point this out before anyone jumped to the conclusion that EIT was a beautified name from torture.

2LT (Join to see) I am with you. Torture is something that beyond comprehension for me. I have no problem killing another human being if so ordered on a battlefield, but I am not going inflict pain on someone in the name of country. I am ok with the repercussions that come with refusing that order.

I have no moral qualms about torture...if it worked. I'd torture the shit out of someone to get them to reveal where an imminent WMD was about to go off, for example. However, torture doesn't work. People will tell you anything you want to hear, just to make it stop. They might tell you the truth, but more likely they will tell you what you want to hear. Most of what you learn will not be credible. For that reason, it's out of the toolbox in my mind.