The central point of the preceding scenario is that a lot of assumptions were made about the individual that led to events unfolding the way they did. These assumptions are not new and are part of a myth perpetuated by those who advocate torture. This "Torture Myth" (Jeannine Bell 340) has three major presuppositions that feed the self fulfilling prophecy which keeps torture around in the modern age. Bell lists these assumptions as: torture is only used against individuals whom the Government has clearly established have strong ties to terrorism, the information possessed by those we would torture is valuable, and, lastly, torture is effective. .
Taking the first assumption, no one is saying the Government does everything wrong, but there have been countless times where mistaken identity on the part of the government has compromised if not totally ruined peoples' lives. Take the no fly list as an example. God forbid your name matches anyone on that list. Not only does one have to go through many bureaucratic hurdles to make sure they can actually board a plane. Wall Street Journal's Scott McCartney writes that a government program set up specifically to remove innocent people from such watch lists has been ineffective and riddled with problems (Homeland Security News Wire). To take it to the other end of the spectrum, this author has personally experienced what happens to people, in foreign countries the United States occupies, when they are detained because their name matches a name on a terrorist watch list. At a minimum, they are detained for fourteen days in a U.S. military run prison likely very far from their home. They receive an initial screening from an interrogator within the first 24 hours of capture and are lucky if they get interrogated in the following 72 hours. They are never tortured, but being stuck in a prison for two weeks can be traumatizing in of itself.
Within the 21st century policing has changed along with the criminal element. ... Attempting to uphold the law however they can, police officers often interrogate criminals and attempt to cohort them into co-operation with promises of payoffs and the forfeiting of charges. ... If a person is believed to be an informant for the police his/her family or themselves could be tortured to reveal the truth. ...