The Counter-deception Blog

December 10, 2005 NYTimes.com

Illegal, Immoral and Pointless

There are many reasons why Americans should not torture prisoners, but here is one that may help those who are still not moved by the fact that it is morally wrong and illegal, damages the nation's image, and puts American soldiers who are taken prisoner in mortal peril: It usually doesn't work.

Torture is a terrible way to do the very thing that the administration uses to excuse it - getting accurate information. Centuries of experience show that people will tell their tormenters what they want to hear, whether it's confessing to witchcraft in Salem, admitting to counterrevolutionary tendencies in Soviet Russia or concocting stories about Iraq and Al Qaeda.

Which brings us to the sorry tale of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, identified as a former Qaeda leader. Douglas Jehl recounted in yesterday's Times how Mr. Libi was captured in Pakistan in late 2001 by American forces and later sent for questioning to Egypt, which the C.I.A. uses as a proxy for this sort of grubby work. The Egyptians interrogated Mr. Libi for a year and sent him back to the American authorities talking about how Qaeda members had received chemical weapons training in Iraq.

There was only one problem: Mr. Libi says he made the story up to appease the Egyptians, who he says tortured him.

The Defense Intelligence Agency tried warning early on that Mr. Libi's credibility was dubious, partly because the Pentagon knows the Egyptians abuse their prisoners. But the president and his team went ahead anyway and presented Mr. Libi's fairy tale as one of the justifications for invading Iraq. The information was later repudiated, and Mr. Libi is now said to be at a secret C.I.A. camp. He will probably never be brought to justice for any terrorism he did plan or commit because his case, like those of others under illegal detention, has been so compromised by his treatment that it would probably be thrown out of court.

It took too long, but the Senate is finally trying to clean up this mess, voting 90 to 9 for an amendment by Senator John McCain to reimpose age-old rules of decency for the detainees in the "war on terror." The House should endorse that amendment, which is attached to the Pentagon budget bill, and send it to President Bush.

There was talk this week of Mr. Bush's backing away from his threat to veto the entire Pentagon budget if the McCain amendment is attached. We hope that's true, but this is a time for Americans' elected representatives to stand on principle. Mr. McCain should not water down his bill to satisfy the White House or fringe Republicans in the House. If Mr. Bush cannot manage to overrule his vice president and ends up vetoing the measure, it should not be hard to override such an irresponsible act. All it would take is for Congress to vote against torture.