Interrogation

I'm sure that killers are all around
United fools
Bewitched by words
These weapons take control ~ Lay Down The Law, Sodom

My Department sent me to an Interview and Interrogation class getting me off of midnights for 4 days.

Yay or rather Bleech! I hate Chicago traffic in the mornings and mornings in general, plus I figured since I listen to Sean Hannity I don't need an Interrogation class all I need to do if I suspect someone has committed a crime is playfully water board them. While the suspect is laughing and enjoying some collegiate rough housing they'll feel so cordial towards me that they will admit to every crime they have committed plus a few others I choose to charge them with; Case(s) Closed!

But, I went nonetheless. I was astonished to discover the booklet for the class to be nearly 150 pages long! I was expecting only a one page pamphlet with the following:

Step 1: Grab Suspect by Throat.
Step 2: Remove Baton from Belt (Officer may show Suspect the Baton to entice cooperation)
Step 3: Strike Suspect with Baton.
Step 4: Repeat if Necessary.

Imagine my surprise when I read this following passage in an essay regarding Interrogation:

The clearest example of an interrogation practice that will void a confession is the infliction of physical force or pain upon the person under interrogation, because it is an incontestable fact that harm of this nature may produce a confession of guilt from an innocent person. This is also true as regards indirect physical harm - for instance, an unduly prolonged continuous interrogation, especially by two or more interrogators working in relays or the deprivation of food, water, or access to toilet facilities for an unreasonable period of time. A threat of physical harm may have a similar effect --- the extraction of confession from innocent persons. ~ Fred E. Inbau

Holy Fuck! Who allowed this traitor into the country? But, then I realized the problem. The Punk Ass Bitch Chicken Hawk Teabagging Birtherite Conservatives and their Republican Fondlers don't know anything about interrogation. Most have ensured their splotchy, flabby, pasty-white flesh will never see the harsh light of a combat zone so they don't understand the Fog of War and the Right Wing Extremists hate the Police because the Police are agents of the Government and the Government can never do anything well. The Right thinks everyone arrested must be guilty and everyone captured by the Military in Iraq or Afghanistan is a Terrorist or Guilty of aiding Terror and therefore there is no need to deal with any processing but only to move onto the sentencing phase, with rougher being better.

Interrogation of suspects is a valuable and necessary tool for the extraction of information both for the military and civilian law enforcement. However, what the Terrorists on the Right want to use it for is the extraction of "a pound of flesh".

It's a Binary function. Similar to the declaration you can't be a little bit pregnant you can't do a little physical torture and hide behind the euphemism Harsh Interrogation. It either is or is not physical torture.

Related:
Disaffected and it Feels So Good: Illinois Get To Know Your Laws 2 (02/09/2009)