jkefka
2009-05-30 01:03 am UTC (link)

Woah now, these were sugar-free cookies. Let's not jump to conclusions about being well-treated here.

In all seriousness, there is ample evidence in psychology that positive conditioning is drastically more effective, and that positive actions will endear people to you. See also: Stockholm Syndrome. Being well treated will create a bond, even a horrible abusive one.

But yeah. Dead on, dudes. Cookies for intel is the way to go.

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	sadisticferret 2009-05-30 01:44 am UTC (link)
	Seriously. I, for one, would sell out my own mother for a plate of delicious cookies. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	rodo 2009-05-30 01:52 am UTC (link)
	Especially if the prison you're in has horrible food ... and if they're chocolate chip cookies with little bits of nut and extra chocolate. It's obvious I'm trying to lose weight, isn't it? (Reply to this)(Parent)

	senor_pinata 2009-05-30 03:00 am UTC (link)
	He was diabetic, so sugar-free cookies were even more thoughtful. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	brennalarose 2009-06-02 12:46 pm UTC (link)
	I'm allowed to have hope for my native country now, right? (Reply to this)(Parent)

	hallidae 2009-05-30 01:49 am UTC (link)
	I admit, I was like "Who the hell would talk for sugar free cookies?" until I actually read the article, and found how it related to their treatment of him and their acknowledgment of him as a person with specific needs. It still amazes me how sometimes one simple little gesture of respect and goodwill will win someone over. More flies with honey and all that. (Reply to this)

rhiannonmr
2009-05-30 02:40 am UTC (link)

Maddox is right. Torture does not work. Aside from the moral issues, that right there is the best argument against it for the morally impaired. You get ratty information from tortured people. That radio dude said he would've said anything to get it to stop after only 6 seconds of being waterboarded.

As an American I am so pissed that we went there I could spit. We aren't supposed to sink to their level, ever.

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	alienist 2009-05-31 04:41 am UTC (link)
	You'd think common sense would tell you that. If you're being tortured, you tell your interrogator any damn thing they want to hear. (Reply to this)(Parent)

eleutheria
2009-05-30 10:56 pm UTC (link)

Anyone else read the book "How to Break a Terrorist"? It's written by an Air Force investigator turned interrogator, and it's all about this exact thing-- that torture doesn't work, and psychological methods + treating the prisoner like a human being do work. This is the guy who got the information that found Zarqawi, and if he hadn't bucked the leadership and used the "new methods" on a couple of the high-value prisoners, they never would have found him. Of course the worst command-and-control user got a medal, and the narrator and people like him are being ignored or maligned by the Bush Administration.

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	seiberwing 2009-06-01 02:23 pm UTC (link)
	"You pansy liberals just want to cuddle the terrorists and feed them cookies!" Which...apparently works! (Reply to this)

gardnerhill
2009-06-02 07:57 am UTC (link)

Wow. Who'da guessed that a tiny bit of kindness would provide more positive results than tons of abuse?

...Oh, right. Aesop ("The Wind and the Sun"), the Judge Ooka stories from Japan (a specific anti-torture story from 300 years ago), the Bible ("coals of fire" - shaming an enemy by showing kindness). Anyone with a miniscule grasp of history, including the history of the treatment of war prisoners.

Too bad Bush made being proud of not-knowin'-nuthin' such a virtue.

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