News Watch: Prosecutor named to probe CIA interrogations

For reference, the news source is from this article: http://www.smh.com.au/world/prosecutor-named-to-probe-cia-interrogations-20090825-ewsp.html

So media is making a big deal about interrogation methods used by the CIA. Examples that were given were 'threats to rape family members of terror suspects, execute their kids, torture with an electric drill.'

You get the usual complaints like "its inhumane... we are no better than them... etc", however so far it seems like it was just purely threats, rather than things that were actually carried out... or at least as far as I can tell. What I dont get is, if they didn't interrogate him in this way... how were they going to get information out of him? Ask him nicely? =\

I wouldn't condone actually carrying out those kind of threats... since those family members and kids probably aren't involved with the terrorist acts, but if you want information from a criminal... sometimes u just need to make them believe that you would actually carry out a horrific threat. Hes not exactly going to volunteer the information... so if the CIA is going to get anywhere with the investigation... then they will probably need to do what they have to. I think the key is making him 'believe' that the CIA will do anything it has to, rather than the CIA actually doing it. So I guess it probably doesn't help if the CIA cops a lot of flak for this... as it means Khalid probably wont believe the CIA has the guts to carry out their threats due to the bad reputation they would get... and thus hes not gonna talk, and they'll be back to square one.

Don't misunderstand me... all of this killing is plain wrong, whether its by the terrorists or by the Americans... but this case is weighing the suffering of one man (who was responsible for the killing of many) compared to the thousands or millions that would need to suffer because of this. September 11 was enough of a tragedy for me to see in this lifetime.