But most poignantly, McCain spoke of his own five-and-a-half-year captivity in Vietnam to argue that torture fails to yield credible information."I know from personal experience that the abuse of prisoners will produce more bad than good intelligence. I know that victims of torture will offer intentionally misleading information if they think their captors will believe it. I know they will say whatever they think their torturers want them to say if they believe it will stop their suffering."McCain added (emphatically) that "the use of torture compromises that which most distinguishes us from our enemies, our belief that all people, even captured enemies, possess basic human rights."
The Atlantic: This Is How a Prisoner of War Feels About Torture, 9 December 2014
A report from the CIA's inspector general had raised the possibility that the CIA's interrogation techniques violated the UN Convention Against Torture, and that individual officers might be liable for criminal prosecution. That torture report from 10 years ago, in Mazetti's words, "was perhaps the single most important reason for the C.I.A.’s shift from capturing to killing terrorism suspects."
The Atlantic: America Trades Torture for Drones, 9 December 2014
NY Times: The Senate Committee’s Report on the C.I.A.’s Use of Torture, 9 December 2014The Daily Beast: The Most Gruesome Moments in the CIA ‘Torture Report’, 9 December 2014The Guardian: CIA torture report: Obama under pressure as calls for accountability grow, 11 December 2014
