It seems we've hit a gray area on this thread. It's amazing to see how in a few civilized countries the people can have such exteme positions. Well, instead of offering my opinion like so many have done before me, I'm going to bring up some very large problems on both sides of the argument.
First of all I'll consider physical torture. The largest concern with this type of torture is the problem that we may not be sure whether or not the person actually commited the crime he's being tortured for. This has more to do with criminal then military of course. The greatest hindrance with torture is we tend to torture a person before conviction to force the information out of them. In our nation of "innocent until proven guilty" this poses a contradiction. Even if we waited until conviction, which under most circumstances isn't even possible, we still couldn't be positive that the person was truly guilty of the action.
In physical tortures defense, sometimes we need the information quickly. Especially in kidnapping cases and other cases involving a persons life. If we don't torture this person, we probably cannot obtain the information needed to bring the victim to safety. Thus, the dilemmas of physical torture
The issues concerning mental torture run even further. Many people consider this a weaker form of torture, but that may not be so. A person who has been pushed to instability through torture may never recover from it, and the effects could be more severe then even physical torture could afford. But the problems run even deeper then this. Yesterday I read in a newspaper article about three "mentally retarded" people who were interogated by the police. The police used tactics that, in my opinion, resembled mental torture. They continually blamed them for commiting the crime, and even claimed they had evidence to convict the three people, which was not true. The police ended up with more stories then they could count on their fingers and toes, and confessions of the crime by all three people, all of which said another one or even both of the remaining suspects were not involved.
The point in all of this seemingly inane babble is that some people, not being able to deal with mental torture, will give false information just to please the people who are causing the strain on their minds. Nothing is ever really gained from these people, and in reality you may have even taken a step back.
Now mental torture has the same positive effect as physical. It can gain you quick access to information you need when you have no other means of getting it. Of course, you cannot be sure this person even has the information. These are some major complications to the whole issue, and I would like to see if someone has way around the problems.
The old man had an interesting view, but I seriously doubt it would be useful, especially in criminal offenses where the criminal knows you are not his buddy, and in religions conflicts, where the person being interogated only befriends those of his own religion, which usually coincides with nationality.
