An Alternative To Torture For Field Investigators

As a further evidence that torture is unnecessary to achieve our foreign policy goals -- even the sub rosa gathering of intelligence about enemy movements -- I refer you Readers to this piece in today's WaPo. As it turns out, our agents could have captured an Afghan chieftan and tortured him for information about terrorist activities. He might have given up some information that we'd have had to use immediately and then would have turned against us permanently.

Instead, the CIA gave him boner pills.

Turns out, guys like getting boners. And when you get someone laid, they tend to think well of you. So here's a guy was sixty years old and thanks to us, he was able to romp with his wife again. He liked that and he knew full well that the Viagra was a drug, not magic, and that it came from America. But the bad guys can't give him boner pills. We can. Now, he will exchange information with the CIA for Viagra and he's more than happy to go along with that. And best of all, his conversion to our side isn't immediately obvious other than the silly grin on his face. As a long-term, willing source of information, he's a better asset than he would have been a captured torture victim.