From a purely intelligence point of view, experience teaches that more often than not the collating services are overwhelmed by a mountain of false information extorted from victims desperate to save themselves further agony. Also, it is bound to drive into the enemy camp the innocents who have wrongly been submitted to torture. As Camus declares: "torture has perhaps saved some at the expense of honour, by uncovering thirty bombs, but at the same time it has created fifty new terrorists who, operating in some other way and in another place, would cause the death of even more innocent people". Torture, one feels, is never warranted; one should never fight for a good cause with evil weapons.

XREF: Connects to counterterrorism debates about the effectiveness of harsh interrogation — the classic 'yield' paradox where coercive methods produce unreliable intelligence and radicalize victims. SEED: Could be an angle on the cost-benefit analysis of torture: Camus's arithmetic of thirty bombs versus fifty new terrorists offers a memorable, quotable framework.

Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Alge…, loc. 611