Notes: Coercive Counterintelligence Interrogation of Resistant Sources
HOW TO SUCCEED IN TORTURE
WITHOUT REALLY TRYING
1. FIRST THINGS FIRST:
Surprise,
catch your source off balance
when he least expects it:
At the moment he opens his eyes in the morning
While he shits on the can.
Detain and confine,
quickly,
quickly
cut him off from the known.
Plunge your source into the strange,
the invisible wells gone dry in his bones
Drained by his eyes
He’s in occupied territory—
he could walk a long time and find nowhere, nothing, nada
no doors, no tunnels, windows
Familiar clothing reinforces identity.
Replace the source’s attire with items several sizes too large.
Shave off his hair.
Confiscate his belt; make him hold up his pants.
Best of all, keep him naked, especially from the waist down.
3. YOUR GOALS:
Identify, expose and exploit the resistant source’s internal
hungers.
Induce the source to fluctuate inside himself.
Befuddle the source’s anxiety with constant, sudden
disruptions of patterns, blurs and howling winds.
Make sure the source’s body is havoc and there is no escape.
Play the role of superior external/paternal power geared to
crush the source’s will and extract a true confession.
NOTA BENE: the interrogator, by virtue of his role as the sole
donor of satisfaction and punishment, may take on the stature
and importance of a father figure—the one the source loves but
hates and wants to castrate. Intense hatred and warm feelings
often make faithful friends.
4. REGRESSION AS RORSCHACH:
When the binding ropes are released and
the course is dropped one foot,
then another foot, then again,
and so on and so on,
the rhythm of elevation, descent, known as “squassation”,
reach its climax when the source’s torso
lands in the fetal pose.
5. MIND YOUR P’s and Q’s:
Full-blown DDD (depression, debility, dread) syndrome
constitutes a state of discomfort that is well nigh intolerable.
The source sinks into defensive apathy from which it is hard
to arouse him.
Marshal your quick wit, good judgment and perfect timing
to prevent such collapse.
6. THE BEAUTY OF ISOLATION:
A cell that is soundproof, odorless, and totally dark can
produce results in a few hours or days, while detention in
an ordinary cell may produce only after weeks or
months of confinement.
Speedy onset of anxiety is of great benefit to you in fulfilling
your mission.
Finally, bear in mind a water tank or iron lung is more
effective than a cell.
7. DURESS, COMPLIANCE, REGRESSION
ARE THE HOLY TRINITY OF COERCIVE
INTERROGATION:
You are in the service of your country.
You are helping to make the world a better place.
Copyright Credit: Anna Rabinowitz, "HOW TO SUCCEED IN TORTURE WITHOUT REALLY TRYING [pp. 84 - 87]" from Present Tense. Copyright © 2010 by Anna Rabinowitz. Reprinted by permission of Omnidawn Publishing.