Thoughts on My Terrorism Story

Recently I read Malcolm Gladwell's new Book "Talking to Strangers". His discussion of the effectiveness of torture reminded me to think about a story I started and abandoned years ago. His comments gave me a new angle on the issue, so I had another look at the idea.

Opposition to Torture

I am opposed to the use of torture on moral grounds. I feel it is just wrong. However, I believe that there is another reason to oppose the use of torture. That is that torture is ineffective and maybe even counter productive.

Advocates of the use of torture often posit a situation where you have a suspect who knows where and when a terrorist attack will happen. They ask, wouldn't you use torture if it meant saving lives. This is presented as a dilemma. But, if torture is not effective, then there is no dilemma.

Why Torture Doesn’t Work

Torture is only one way to get information from suspected terrorists. People in law enforcement have developed other approaches, such as developing a rapport with the suspect. I am convinced that these other approaches are more effective if you want to gain the information you want.

When people are tortured, they eventually will say just about anything to stop the torture. This was true both of people who had valuable information and those who had no information. Although knowledgeable people would eventually reveal useful information, those who did not have useful information would makeup information that they thought the interrogators would want to hear. Interrogators would not know if their suspects would have useful information.

Terrorist groups are typically organized into small cells. Only members of a cell know what the cell has planned in enough detail to be useful in deterring attacks. That means that only few suspects would have useful information. Interrogators would get useful information from those few. However, the vast majority of information they would get would be from people who know nothing, and it would be useless or misleading.

To make maters worse, the suspects who made up information would try to fit what they thought the interrogators wanted to hear. As a result, most of the resources would be wasted on wild goose chases, while valuable leads are ignored.

Outline of the Story

My story would center on a conflict between two interrogators over whether to use torture on a terrorist suspect they believe was involved in a planned terrorist attack.

The story would start with the interrogator who rejects torture. He would develop some rapport with the suspect and gain some information that the other interrogator would consider irrelevant.

Impatient to make progress, the second interrogator would take over and begin to torture the suspect. He would "break" the suspect using torture and get information on the planned attack. Armed with this information he would instigate a large operation to foil the plot.

Left behind, the first negotiator meets with the suspect. In the course of casual conversation, the interrogator would realize that the suspect did not have information on the planned attack. He just made up something to stop the torture.

However, the first negotiator would pick up on some hints and clues, that the suspect himself isn't aware are relevant or important. Using those clues, the interrogator determines where and when the attack would be. No one will accept his interpretation, and since all the resources are focused on the false attack, he ends up going alone to stop the attack. Of course, being the hero, he foils the attack and saves lives.

The Effect of Torture on Memory

Gladwell talks about an aspect of the effectiveness of torture that I was unaware of. He cites studies that show that torture affects people's memory. A tortured suspect could very well be unable to recall the information that interrogators really want. They, like the people who really do not have useful information, would be forced to make things up to stop the torture.

Gladwell mentions the confession of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, one of the leaders of Al-Qaeda. After a long period of torture, KSM did "break" and made a long and detailed confession. The problem was that much of the confession was made up. For example, he confesses to targeting an attack at a building that was built after he was captured. That couldn't possibly be true.

Changes to My Story idea

My initial thought was that the issue of memory impairment would require a big change to my story idea. After further consideration, I decided that the changes could be minor, and would make the story more effective.

Since the torture would affect the suspect's memory, the interrogator would need to gain the important information before the torture. This would also make it clear that the information he uses is not the result of the suspect's torture. This would also add some irony to the story, since they already have the information they need before they try torture.

Still Blocked

This new wrinkle got me interested in the story again, but I still don't feel that I can restart work on it. I think there is still potential with the idea, but I'm just not yet the person to write it.

Over the years, I've had to abandon many story ideas I developed. I do notice a pattern with some of those. When I start work on a story with a "message" that I want to communicate, like this story, I find it difficult to push past a certain point.

I think one reason I get stuck is that I get too focussed on the idea I want to promote and neglect other elements of the story. I need to have interesting characters and story lines. If I don't find my characters and story interesting, other people won't find them interesting.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog