Interrogator On Daily Show: 'I Never Saw Coercive Methods Pay Off'

Matthew Alexander (not his real name) is a fourteen year Air Force vet who served as an interrogator in Iraq, and he's written a book called How to Break a Terrorist: The U.S. Interrogators Who Used Brains, Not Brutality, to Take Down the Deadliest Man in Iraq. Last night, Alexander made an appearance on The Daily Show, where he made a powerful case for the superior efficacy of not torturing people during interrogations.

Host Jon Stewart asked about that ancient trope of torture enthusiasts, the "Ticking Time Bomb Scenario." Alexander replied:

"When I was in Iraq we were dealing with the ticking time bomb every day, the people we had captured, they were behind the suicide bombs. So many of them, right then and there, had information that could have saved lives. But we knew that if we resorted to torture to get that information, that al Qaeda would have used that to recruit more fighters in the future."

Did torture ever work? Not surprisingly, the answer was no.

"I never saw coercive methods [pay off]...When I was in Iraq, the few times I saw people use harsh methods, it was always counterproductive. The person just hunkered down, they were expecting us to do that, and they just shut up. And then I'd have to send somebody in, build back up rapport, reverse that process, and it would take us longer to get information."

I think that this statement of Alexander's sums it up the best:

"The things that make you a good interrogator are the same things that make you a good American."

And also, the opposite is true.

[WATCH.]

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Matthew Alexander

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RELATED:
I'm Still Tortured by What I Saw in Iraq [Washington Post]

Comments

[dryrock]

As I watched this segment, I found myself entranced by Alexander's composure and it occurred to me that he was working his mojo on Jon, the constantly moderated voice, always smiling or looking empathetic. Came away looking decent. No wonder he gets results. Put him to work as a trainer.

[NTBoss]

Lovable...some would like to dwell on the problem and just re-hash the argument just to have a story that will surely get people engaged... bottom line some talk shows are just barber-shops on-air while other talk shows do tell the people the truth and hand over solutions that involves society.

[Liberalrep1980]

This is a guy who's hand I would shake if I saw him on the street. To have the guts to do that kind of work in the first place and be good at it, and secondly to take such a huge risk by coming out even if his name was changed. Not too mention he came out on the Daily Show which shows the guy knows his stuff all around and has some sense of humor.

[iranter]

i'm guessing he's never watched olberman!

[jwbriones]

Save the sadism for the bedroom chickenhawks..

[lisa010]

What do you call information extracted by torture?

Unreliable

Seems like a no-brainer doesn't it?

[lisa010]

What do you call information obtained through torture?

Unreliable.

[rabiddog6708]

What do you call the people who obtain information through torture?

Neocons.

[Pyfagorus]

Let's get this out of the way: What we refer to by the innocuous name "waterboarding" is identical with the "toca," one of the most-used interrogation methods of the Spanish Inquisition. The method was alternatively known as the "tortura del agua" - proof positive that the inquisitors DEFINITELY considered it to be a form of torture, and would have laughed at the idea that it wasn't.

My point is that those who say "waterboarding isn't torture" are saying that THE SPANISH INQUISITION WAS TOO SOFT!

[willr]

Excellent point

[RyokoMocha]

Historically, torture has NEVER worked as a means to extract information. Torture has one, and only one, purpose: to inflict pain. It is well documented that when people are tortured they will say whatever the torturer wants to hear just to end the torture. This has been known for a LONG TIME, and everyone knows it, it isn't a big secret and doesn't take an extensive eduction in psychology to figure out. So, apart from being despicable and morally reprehensible, it is completely worthless as a means of information gathering.

So, all in all, it's a pretty good symbol of the Bush administration. Bush: The Waterboarding of America.

[phoquemyope]

...it is also a method of putting the populace on notice that the controlling powers can do anything they want to -- it is the use of terror to control large numbers of people (and is thus a form of terrorism W. would rather not talk about). Every totalitarian régime uses the method to limit resistance, and apparently some authoritar­ian-minded folk in the US think it's just a dandy idea. The sadistic side is merely a bonus for these evil people.

Whenever the pro-torture side comes out with the "information" angle, it is spouting pure BS, and knows it full well.

[MajorKong]

Most of our "enhanced interrogation" techniques were reverse-engineered from the experiences of US personnel at the hands of North Korea and Vietnam.

However, the Communists found that torture worked well for coercing false confessions for propaganda purposes. It was also useful as a tool of intimidation to keep the population in line. As for extracting useful intelligence, not so much.

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

But it's terrific for getting sadistic, sexually repressed, rocks off. ;-o

[DinkSinger]

Torture does not work and this is not a new discovery

"The barbarous custom of having men beaten who are suspected of having important secrets to reveal must be abolished. It has always been recognized that this way of interrogating men, by putting them to torture, produces nothing worthwhile." - Napoleon Bonaparte, 1798

[RadLeftVetPatriot]

AY! FailSail!
Way you at?
Your expertise on the efficacy of torture is sorely needed to rebut this guy!
Come on out and tell us how waterboarding works so well again.

[kellygrrrl]

what makes me most angry is that it is the low-level service men and women who pay the price and suffer the consequences in so many more ways than one.

[ohioan73]

Reminds me of a 2007 movie called Rendition I saw on HBO the other day. Witherspoon and Gyllenhall. Pretty decent movie except they tell the story of a CIA dude (Gyllenhall) who witnesses the torture of an Egyptian-born American by Egyptian government. I'd like to see someone make a film about the unwarranted torture of foreigners by Americans instead of always having us falsely portrayed as the hero. Bush and his administration took away our hero status and good name.

[Rog49Thomas]

The good ole USA has run a torture school of Latin American right wing thugs since 1947.

The School of the Americas (now operating under the name WHINSEC).

You can tell a school by its graduates and the positions they achieve.

Many distinguished folks have been graduates

Blowtorch Bob (No waterboarding for this guy, he was a conservationist)!

And a chap who allegedly participated in the Las Hojas massacre (1992) - went to WHINSEC in 2003 perhaps for some graduate level work.

The man who ran the "popular" hangouts for leftists in Chile "La Venda Sexy" and "La Discotheque"

But of course, sometimes those who teach also ca do.

You could ask Yuri Nosenko about his treatment.

Or you could google and read "Family Jewels +CIA".

Be sure and bring several flag lapel pins with you, after you trawl through this stuff, you may need to wear two or more.

[Bitsko]

Mr. Alexander is a true hero.

[kellygrrrl]

I agree!