torture works

digging through my research for my sibel pieces, i came across this again from sibel's 60 minutes mo' of fame. i thought it was relevant in the context of the current torture 'argument'. remember, the wingnuts like to posit the ticking-time-bomb scenario - but even if we knew that the 'terrorist' knew all the details, and even if there was an imminent plot, and even if we had the suspect, we still need to have all of the other parts of the bureaucratic machine working perfectly. lets cut to the film:

BRADLEY: (Voiceover) But Edmonds says that to her amazement, from the day she started the job, she was told repeatedly by one of her supervisors that there was no urgency; that she should take longer to translate documents so that the department would appear overworked and understaffed. That way, it would receive a larger budget for the next year.

Ms. EDMONDS: We were told by our supervisors that this was the great opportunity for asking for increased budget and asking for more translators. And in order to do that, don't do the work and let the documents pile up so we can show it and say that we need more translators and expand the department.

BRADLEY: So you--you have FBI agents who are in the field relying on your translation work in order to move their cases forward, and your supervisor is saying, 'Slow down. Let the cases pile up'?

Ms. EDMONDS: Correct.

BRADLEY: I mean, how is it possible that the focus wasn't on terrorism, particularly after 9/11?

Ms. EDMONDS: It was not. At least in that department, it was not.

BRADLEY: (Voiceover) Edmonds says that the supervisor, in an effort to slow her down, went so far as to erase completed translations from her FBI computer after she'd left work for the day.

Ms. EDMONDS: The next day, I would come to work, turn on my computer and the work would be gone. The translation would be gone. Then I had to start all over again and retranslate the same document. And I went to my supervisor and he said, 'Consider it a lesson and don't talk about it to anybody else and don't mention it.'

BRADLEY: What's the lesson?

Ms. EDMONDS: The lesson was don't work, don't do the translations. Go out and spend two hours lunch breaks, you know. Go and--don't go and get coffee downstairs. Go eight blocks away. Just chat with your friends. But don't do the work because--and this is our chance to increase the number of people here in this department.
[snip]

BRADLEY: (Voiceover) The FBI has conceded that some people in the language department are unable to adequately speak English or the language they're supposed to be translating. Kevin Taskasen was assigned to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba to translate interrogations of Turkish-speaking al-Qaida members who had been captured after September 11th. The FBI admits that he was not fully qualified to do the job.

Ms. EDMONDS: He neither passed the English nor the Turkish side of this language proficiency test.

BRADLEY: So that means if, for example, you had a--a terrorist detained at--at Guantanamo who had information about an attack being planned in the future against the United States, that person would not have been in a position to translate that?

Ms. EDMONDS: Correct. He wouldn't.

so - even if we had the 'perfect' scenario for torture, theres still a really good chance that torture won't help us. are you listening dick cheney?

ftr - i dont accept that in the weeks after 911 the fbi translation room was hoping to back-up translations for the purpose of increasing headcount - my guess is that the reasons were more nefarious - but the fact remains - fags or no fags - translations werent a priority. even in the DC translation department. even in the fbi. even immediately after 911. even with gitmo interrogations!

sibel only worked there from sep 13, 01 till mar 02.

if not then, then when?

torture is morally wrong, it produces bad intelligence, and even if the conditions are 'perfect', we'd still fuck up the output - for bureaucratic reasons, if not something else. the aug 6 pdb told the president that iraq al qaeda was gonna stike and still did nothing... dont get me wrong, id love to torture the president - but not to get any actionable intelligence - im sure i wouldnt find any intelligence there at all - purely for fristian reasons.