Pop Quiz

by Kieran Healy on February 7, 2005

From the Guardian, a sample from the test administered to recruits to the Iraqi Police Force:

bq. Any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person is: a) torture; b) interview techniques; c) interrogation techniques; d) informative and reliable.

How sad that the United States now has an Attorney General who would get this question wrong.

{ 9 comments }

1

ogmb 02.08.05 at 2:58 am

Speaking of Attorney General Alberto “Abu Ghraib” Gonzales, here’s a piece by the Guardian’s sister publication, the Observer on how British and American secret services collaborated in abducting a British citizen to Gitmo.

2

Josh 02.08.05 at 3:29 am

How true, how true. We’re living in scary times now, aren’t we? Thanks for posting this.

3

PrincePickle 02.08.05 at 3:35 am

All it is a formality. We all know police and government institutions around the world use pain/mental anguish to get what they want. I wouldn’t worry about the higher ups in our government. I worry about my local police department.

4

PrincePickle 02.08.05 at 3:38 am

All it is a formality. We all know police and government institutions around the world use pain/mental anguish to get what they want. I wouldn’t worry about the higher ups in our government. I worry about my local police department.

5

Dick Durata 02.08.05 at 5:57 am

Well, what’s the answer?

6

Mill 02.08.05 at 7:11 am

Horribleness of torture aside, the Guardian must have some absolutely god-awful translators working for them if that’s the best they can do. I suppose it’s possible that the original question was poorly written but surely in that case there’d be reportage to that effect.

In fact, I’d like to know a lot more about that exam, because it seems to mix genuine justice-related questions (“When can human rights can be taken away from a person?”) with basic vocabulary questions, like this:

_Any act prohibited by law, for which law arranges a punishment, is

a) justice
b) civil
c) foreign policy
d) crime_

Assuming that they’re taking the test in their native language, all this question tests is that they have at least average adult intelligence and vocabulary. Surely the time to do this is BEFORE they’re admitted to the course.

7

fredfredfredfred 02.08.05 at 8:30 am

How sad that you think you’re clever.

8

Locutor 02.08.05 at 3:06 pm

How sad that you think you’re clever.

Posted by fredfredfredfred

Wow, I bet Kieran is all teared up after that scathing witticism! Please don’t turn that acid wit upon poor me…(sniff).

9

Anderson 02.08.05 at 9:56 pm

Well, we now have several hundred Iraqi cops who are better qualified for AG than Gonzales. Just think of the popularity as Bush names the first-ever Iraqi USAG! Confirmation will be a cinch!

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