Self-Inflicted Wounds
New evidence about the torture of prisoners by American soldiers and intelligence agents - and by foreign governments working secretly for the United States - is appalling for all the obvious reasons. This kind of brutality violates both American law and international treaties. It endangers American soldiers who may in the future find themselves captives of a hostile nation. It debases the nation at home and abroad.
Now it is also becoming increasingly clear that this extensive, random prisoner abuse is a wretched failure that does nothing to aid the war on terror.
Report after report shows that a vast majority of those swept up in American anti-terrorism campaigns were innocent. Those who may have been guilty produced little if any useful information - and now cannot be put on trial and punished because they were illegally detained and tortured. Others simply lied under duress, providing an ample supply of disinformation purchased at the cost of American self-respect. Military doctrine says that interrogation becomes pointless after a few days, while torture produces false confessions.
New York Times Editorial ( more. . .)