Friday, December 12, 2008

Five Years Later, How They Got Saddam Hussein

Morning Edition, December 12, 2008 · Former Army Staff Sgt. Eric Maddox talks about his role in the capture of Saddam Hussein five years ago. Maddox used non-violent interrogation methods to discover Saddam's whereabouts by closing in on Saddam's inner circle of bodyguards. Maddox talks with Steve Inskeep about he got the information to get Saddam.

http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=98174979&m=98174953

This was really pretty interesting. I was pleasantly surprised to hear Maddaox argue emphatically that you cannot get good information from people with threats of violence and coercion.

4 comments:

Pope said...

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/0
Page unavailable.

Anonymous said...

Try it now. If not, go here.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98174979

Beck said...

Yup.

I think most any seasoned military or FBI interrogator will say the very same thing. And it's not exactly a secret... it's simply the difference between picking a lock, or trying to force it open with a screwdriver. The former takes longer, requires more attention and skill, but is much less likely to backfire on you and inflict irreversible damage on one's investigative efforts.

Beck said...

oops, premature publish...

What I don't understand is how this wisdom and insight in the interrogation community was just pushed aside in the first place. :/