lucy1983

Answered by Craig Murray

I think the problem with this question is that it is often posed as an abstract philosophical conundrum, and we don't live in an abstract philosophical world. The question was put to me in the Foreign... Show more »I think the problem with this question is that it is often posed as an abstract philosophical conundrum, and we don't live in an abstract philosophical world. The question was put to me in the Foreign Office in the days when I was there trying to get the FO to stop using intelligence gained from torture. My management asked, quite directly, what do you do about the ticking bomb scenario? The trouble is that that's a Hollywood scenario, and life doesn't actually happen like that. There is very little point in arguing through abstract ethical situations - in real life intelligence from torture isn't very reliable. People will confess to anything through torture, and what you get from them is the answer that you want to hear. And the torturer isn't an abstract seeker of truth. It isn't the truth particularly the torturer wants, it's some thing that he wants to know. And remember, that torturer, in real life, isn't some noble and heroic person, he is some extremely unpleasant security official of Saudi Arabia or Uzbekistan, with his own very warped agenda. So, in practice what happens is the intelligence from torture comes from regimes which have themselves a very limited relationship with the truth. In November 2005 Dame Eliza Manningham Buller, then head of MI5, gave the ricin plot as an example of an occasion where evidence from torture abroad could save lives in the UK. (The evidence from the ricin plot came from torture in Algeria.) The trouble is, that information turned out to be totally bogus. What nobody remembers about the ricin plot was that everyone was found not guilty of conspiracy. The court found that there was no ricin and there was no plot. So this is an abstract philosophical question that doesn't relate to what happens in the real world. The vast majority of the intelligence you get from torture is untrue and simply clogs up and pollutes the intelligence pool, thus making the job of combating terrorism harder, not easier. Show less »