KCIndy
05-23-2009, 06:13 PM
Since the whole "Is Waterboarding really torture" has been back in the news - and even hotly debated on some forum threads here (!) I have to write this and ask the question that's been bugging me for months.
Everyone caught up in the "torture/not torture" debate seems to be overlooking something. We're well into the twenty first century, folks. We've mapped the human genome. We have amazing new ways to scan the human brain. We have multi-billion dollar companies using supercomputers to develop new and incredibly effective drugs.
All that being said....
IS IT REALLY POSSIBLE THAT THE U.S. GOVERNMENT *DOESN'T* HAVE AN EFFECTIVE "TRUTH SERUM" STYLE DRUG IN THEIR INTERROGATION ARSENAL???
I find this impossible to believe.
I mean, even if such a drug didn't exist when 9/11 happened, it's been over seven years. Couldn't something have been developed by now?
Please understand: I'm not necessarily condoning the idea of drugging a prisoner to get the truth. But if I had to choose between being chained naked in a freezing cell and then dragged out and water boarded versus being given an injection that makes me feel euphoric and see giant sparkling purple butterflies.... well, give me the purple butterflies any time.
Does anyone here work in, or with, the medical profession? I have heard there are apparently a few different anesthesia drugs being used today that are known in medical circles for the side effect of causing people to babble, apparently without any inhibitions at all, about deeply personal stuff as they come out from under sedation.
Hell, at the very least, it seems like it would be more effective to put three or four detainees in a room and have them pass around a bag of really potent weed. How long would it be before they started blabbing about all the secrets that the interrogators didn't know? And if anyone held out, he could be tempted with a plate of "munchies." :) :)
Okay, that last little bit may be a bit silly. But my serious question remains: Why would the U.S. torture people when it seems very, very likely that there are - or ought to be - drugs that could be used more humanely and achieve better results?
Everyone caught up in the "torture/not torture" debate seems to be overlooking something. We're well into the twenty first century, folks. We've mapped the human genome. We have amazing new ways to scan the human brain. We have multi-billion dollar companies using supercomputers to develop new and incredibly effective drugs.
All that being said....
IS IT REALLY POSSIBLE THAT THE U.S. GOVERNMENT *DOESN'T* HAVE AN EFFECTIVE "TRUTH SERUM" STYLE DRUG IN THEIR INTERROGATION ARSENAL???
I find this impossible to believe.
I mean, even if such a drug didn't exist when 9/11 happened, it's been over seven years. Couldn't something have been developed by now?
Please understand: I'm not necessarily condoning the idea of drugging a prisoner to get the truth. But if I had to choose between being chained naked in a freezing cell and then dragged out and water boarded versus being given an injection that makes me feel euphoric and see giant sparkling purple butterflies.... well, give me the purple butterflies any time.
Does anyone here work in, or with, the medical profession? I have heard there are apparently a few different anesthesia drugs being used today that are known in medical circles for the side effect of causing people to babble, apparently without any inhibitions at all, about deeply personal stuff as they come out from under sedation.
Hell, at the very least, it seems like it would be more effective to put three or four detainees in a room and have them pass around a bag of really potent weed. How long would it be before they started blabbing about all the secrets that the interrogators didn't know? And if anyone held out, he could be tempted with a plate of "munchies." :) :)
Okay, that last little bit may be a bit silly. But my serious question remains: Why would the U.S. torture people when it seems very, very likely that there are - or ought to be - drugs that could be used more humanely and achieve better results?