oh yeah, it loosens them up alright - like loose bowels maybe.
for one thing, i don't believe that people are reliable or honest when under duress.
secondly, i can't condone that kind of behavior for the sake of the "war on terror".
if someone is suspect, they should be considered innocent until proven guilty, not abused.
if someone is guilty, deal out the punishment. if someone is guilty, it doesn't mean that they deserve sub-human treatment as part of punishment.
if someone is innocent because of lack of evidence or because they're proven innocent, let them go.
in the u.s., we're standing on this high pile of moral superiority, but really it is fairness that is usually only accorded to other americans or allies of americans. i think it's a twisted ideal; we either stand for absolute fairness or we're full of shit, IMHO...just my 0.02