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The Village Voice: Features: The Case Against Torture by Alisa Solomon

“There is no proof that torture works. Sometimes, according to a 1963 CIA training manual, it backfires: “If an interrogatee is caused to suffer pain rather late in the interrogation process and after other tactics have failed,” the manual says, “he is almost certain to conclude that the interrogator is becoming desperate. Interrogatees who have withstood pain are more difficult to handle by other methods. The effect has been not to repress the subject, but to restore his confidence and maturity.” On the other hand, those who cannot withstand pain will often say anything to make their abusers let up: admit to things they know nothing about, give the names of anyone they ever met, deliberately provide disinformation.”