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jpardonavarro@gmail.com Escritorio Salir

TheEdithorial
Saturday,13December2014

WhatwouldAristotlesaytotheCIA?

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The main argument heard this week, in

response to the US Senate Intelligence
Committees report on the CIAs
enhanced interrogation programme, has
been that it doesnt work. People since
Aristotle have known that information
extracted under torture is always
questionable since, as he said in his guide to making legal speeches,
'those under compulsion are as likely to give false evidence as true,
some being ready to endure everything rather than tell the truth,
while others are equally ready to make false charges against others,
in the hope of being sooner released from torture.

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2014(50)
December(2)
Whatwould
Aristotle
saytothe
CIA?

I am as disgusted as anyone by the revelations, but think we should

divert our moral energies from condemnation to considering

EdithHall
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alternatives. To use Aristotles distinctions in book 3 of his

Nicomachean Ethics, if we are agreed on the legitimacy of the CIAs
endto gain information about planned acts of terrorismthen what
we need to discuss is the means.

47

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Vulcans
Ancient
and
Modern
November(4)
October(5)
September
(4)
August(5)

The

most

successful

information

extracting exercises in history were the

June(4)
May(5)

Mroom operations in World War II. Ten

April(4)

thousand

March(5)

German

POWssubmarine

crews, Luftwaffe pilots, 59 generals

were
homes

housed

in

including

comfortable
Trent

stately

Park

near

Cockfosters, north London. They were

TrentParkPOWhotel

July(4)

wined,

dined,

and

made

to

feel

respected and comfortable.

The MI6 officer who ran the whole operation, Colonel Thomas
Kendrick, invited the generals to sumptuous parties. They chatted
freely, unaware that he understood German. Another MI6 man
pretended to be a Scottish aristocrat called Lord Aberfeldy, and
earned the Germans trust by buying them luxuries. The residences
were electronically bugged and Jewish refugees from Germany
(including Fritz Lustig who two years ago recorded this interview for
the BBC World Service) transcribed the conversations. These revealed
invaluable insights into the Germans strategies and weapon
technology, including what was going on at Buchenwald and,
crucially, the location of the V2 rocket site at Peenemunde.

February(4)
January(4)
2013(52)
2012(55)
2011(15)

M took a huge amount

of work. The wiring of
Trent

Park

months.

took

six

Hundreds

of

secret

listeners

transcribed a hundred
thousand conversations.
Listenersonthe'M'(Microphone)exercise

But

the

expense

effort

and

paid

off.

Perhaps the CIA need to learn foreign languages, build a luxury hotel
on a Caribbean island, and start inviting suspected terrorists to beach
parties. It would be less exhausting than operating a waterboard
machine. And it would remove the suffering and moral degradation,
i.e. truly enhance the experience for both suspect and spy.

I always used to believe the British judge

James Stephen, who wrote of torture in
1883, There is a great deal of laziness in
it. It is far pleasanter to sit comfortably
in the shade rubbing red pepper into a
poor devil's eyes than to go about in the
sun hunting up evidence. But surely it
would be even more pleasant as well as
more effective to share a Michelinstar

'Tortureisthelazyoption'

meal with your captive. Aristotle insisted

that when deliberating means towards ends people could consciously
choose either virtuous or evil means. I trust he would agree with me.
PostedbyEdithHallat10:40

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