Several weeks ago, terrorist interrogator "Matthew Alexander" was on The Daily Show hawking his book How to Break a Terrorist: The U.S. Interrogators Who Used Brains, Not Brutality, to Take Down the Deadliest Man in Iraq, after an ordeal that involved the Department of Defense to be allowed to publish. He explained to Jon Stewart that "I never saw coercive methods [pay off]...When I was in Iraq, the few times I saw people use harsh methods, it was always counterproductive."
This hasn't stopped the presumptive 111th Congress Select Committee on Intelligence chairs Reyes and Feinstein from urging President-Elect Obama to continue to allow torture.
However, it seems that the CIA has found a new method to get information. Viagra.
From the Washington Post
The Afghan chieftain looked older than his 60-odd years, and his bearded face bore the creases of a man burdened with duties as tribal patriarch and husband to four younger women. His visitor, a CIA officer, saw an opportunity, and reached into his bag for a small gift.
Four blue pills. Viagra.
"Take one of these. You'll love it," the officer said. Compliments of Uncle Sam.
The enticement worked. The officer, who described the encounter, returned four days later to an enthusiastic reception. The grinning chief offered up a bonanza of information about Taliban movements and supply routes -- followed by a request for more pills.
It seems that there were some problems with the traditional bribes. Guns were being used to shoot that hands that gave them, and cash-money and bling lets everyone know that you're clearly in the pockets of the Great Satan.
Of course, in Soviet Union, attractive female spy sexually entrap YOU! The KGB often used attractive women as bait to entice foreign diplomats to inform. In other words, Vladimir Putin has a history of penetrating "airspace" and rearing his (little) head.
But the United States had typically offered "medical care for potential informants and their loved ones, he said." Our use of male genitals to obtain information generally involved electrodes.
But it seems we're catching on: make love, not war.
Once it was established that the man was in good health, the pills were offered and accepted.
Four days later, when the Americans returned, the gift had worked its magic, the operative recalled.
"He came up to us beaming," the official said. "He said, 'You are a great man.' "
"And after that we could do whatever we wanted in his area."