hahahaha http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/05/cookies-al-qaeda/

I'm somewhat speechless. Odd.

Looks like this:

Come to the Dark Side, we have cookies...

What's next? Addressing socioeconomic issues reduces crime better than the death penalty? Madness!

It really makes a lot of sense... As the article states, the guy immediately warmed up when they showed genuine empathy and treated him like a human being. It's pretty simple psychology.

Wait until Jack Bauer hears about this! The next season of 24 is going to be extra exciting

They have to have put something in those cookies...

Hershey's Chocolate Chips... or maybe they were poisoned and the only way to get the antidote was to speak.

Hershey's Chocolate Chips aren't poisoned anyway?

Most hershey chocolate is awful.

I happen to like Hershey's chocolate.

Also, why should we show them respect? They deserve none.

also, that article's spun VERY liberally. Not even close to being neutral.

Everyone deserves respect.

Including people involved in and responsibile for the murder of thousand of human beings?

What if I murdered your family to prove my point? Would you have respect for me?

Respect is not a right. It's a privilege.

Yes, because on some level they probably think they're doing the right thing. You're never going to make them realise they're in the wrong if you don't at least try to understand and respect their perspective.



Probably not, but I would hardly be objective in the matter.

Uh, because it works?


How so? Even if it's true, does it falsify its contents?

I was just trying to think of an example of someone who does a good job of being respectful towards people generally considered to be bad or evil, Louis Theroux springs to mind. I'm constantly impressed by his ability to talk to some pretty scary people without anger or malice.

I agree that they don't really DESERVE respect, but I also think that you do what you need to do to get the job done.

Not that I'm comparing these situations, haha, but I work as a parking enforcement officer at my university. From either end of the interaction, I find that respect, or at least FAKE respect, goes a long way. If someone comes running out of a building screaming "You son of a ***** I was only in there 5 minutes! You guys are all such *******s, are you giving me a ****ing ticket?! **** you! I'm going to talk to your goddamn manager and I'll have your ****ing job!" Guess what? Yeah I'm giving him a ticket. I'm probably going to do worse than that, in fact. But I'll still be respectful to him. Usually being respectful even when they're screaming bloody murder at you will calm the whole situation. On the other side of that, someone who comes out and is respectful to ME will come out of the interaction much better off.

So, I can see how that might be based on simple human nature and might translate up into more serious situations. I don't see why it couldn't.

...Where?

And FYI, US "liberal" is still fairly right-wing.

It's not, he's just using that as an "argument" because he doesn't agree that we should be nice to the TERRISTS

Doesn't surprise me all that much, these guys have been brainwashed into thinking we're all demons whose soul purpose in life is to kill them and eat their babies (don't quote me on this). So showing a glimpse of humanity could go a long way on the right prisoner.


Now, one would expect a bit more then cookies to sway, but still....

They were sugar free cookies though!

Being considerate about an interrogatee potentially having diabetes...now that's humane.

Not potentially, they knew he had diabetes so they gave him sugar-free cookies.

Different definition of the word "Respect".

If you're backed into a corner you either break or you fight harder. For the ones that fight harder, the more you push the harder they fight. Obviously continuing the same approach isn't going to be effective. Keep in mind that the longer it takes to get information out of them, the less reliable it's going to be. Going to the polar opposite is a worth while strategy.

Besides, they should have been doing this all along. Many of these people are just terrorist sympathizers and not actually terrorists. Showing compassion goes directly against what they are taught about us. That single act can start to make them doubt what they've been told. This creates an opening for a smart interrogator.

You can't get caught up in what the person represents. They are a human being, even if misguided. They also have information that they can only give willingly (that's worth trusting). The interrogators goal should be to undermine everything they've been taught about us. I can't stress that enough.