Study shows torture ineffective

Despite the past administration’s attempts, it appears Americans don’t even have the edge when it comes to torture.

A report released Monday by an Irish neuroscience researcher pointed out that methods used by CIA officials to torture terrorist suspects in hopes of gleaning useful information were as problematic as domestic critics said they were.

The report, published in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences, takes several shots at the Bush administration’s insistence that interrogation methods such as waterboarding, were productive in retrieving information, and that they were harmless to recipients.

Professor Shane O’Mara of Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience said the backing by CIA officials and former Vice President Dick Cheney was based on “folk psychology” and not science. The report laid out a lengthy argument that techniques CIA officials used to torture suspects affected brain function, making memories inaccurate and in some cases causing permanent brain damage.

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