Since 2007; Reviews, Comments, Humor and more...

You may have been reading the torture memos – and if so, you will be feeling pretty sick. It's all there: the old Nixonian presumption that "it's not illegal if the President does it"; the mealy-mouthed cloaking of horror in the blandest of language (such as the "rare instances" where eleven days of sleep deprivation might produce "abnormal reactions"); the combination of legal strictures with weasel words and let-out clauses that allow the interrogators to do what they want, so long as their "intention" is to comply.

The whole episode is shameful – and not just because was crude, brutal and dishonest. It was also stupid: it's as if, blinded by the promise of limitless support and resources from the White House, the CIA's professionals forgot all their trade-craft and signed up instead to the simpler doctrines of the military's SERE program, in which participants are tortured because – of course – that's what other, less sophisticated, countries do. In particular, they set aside the lessons of what some call the inquisitor's Bible: John Tolliver's The Interrogator, a study of the Luftwaffe's Hanns Joachim Scharff.

Scharff was perhaps the most effective interrogator in history (one ex-POW said "Hanns could probably get a confession of infidelity from a nun"). Courteous and humane, he was known for the efforts he made to improve conditions for wounded or sick prisoners, as well as for his ability to secure them rare treats like chocolate and cognac.

Scharff was no pushover – he wanted, and got, operational information – but his technique worked by reminding his prisoners of a shared humanity that extended beyond this question, this room, this war. He was constantly tempting them to release the mental pressure that was causing them so much anxiety. He knew that these boys had one big imperative: to resist brutality; so he was not brutal – and, by and large, they did not resist. They dropped their guards and unwittingly let pass little scraps of news he could assemble in his meticulous, organized mind.



It is rare that ex-prisoners would hold a reunion to fκte their interrogator, but Sharff's did (in 1980, where the guests also included Generals Jimmy Doolittle and Curtis LeMay). And his ability to put together minute clues into a big picture served him well in his post-war career as a mosaicist; if you like, you can see his handiwork in Sleeping Beauty's castle at Disneyland.

Everyone in the business knows about Scharff - so why did they forget his example? Because they were in a hurry; because they were lazy; because the Bush administration, here as elsewhere, had no use for history.