In India, desperate times call for truth serum

The lone surviving terrorist from last week's devastating attacks in Mumbai has been in police custody since he was captured last week (his exact name is a matter of dispute, but let's call him Ajmal Amir Kasab for now). He's given up some information, according to press accounts, but the Times of London now reports that Indian interrogators are prepared to take a drastic step to get more answers -- giving him truth serum.

While it sounds like something that only exists in bad spy flicks, or in the pages of a Harry Potter volume, administrating truth serum, or narcoanalysis, is an actual technique used by Western intelligence agencies during the Cold War. The interviewee is typically drugged with barbiturates and then undergoes a form of psychotherapy by interrogators. It's a questionable tactic given that the drugs can cause hallucinations and psychotic episodes.

According to Mumbai's joint commissioner of police, much of the information Kasab gave has been accurate (it was Kasab who told where to find the boat the terrorists hijacked). Questions about his background and nationality remain, however. On Tuesday, Mumbai Police Chief Hasan Gafoor told reporters that Kasab admitted he is a Pakistani and comes from a village in the Punjab province.

But some journalists, like the BBC's Syed Shoaib Hasan, who are following up on these details by visiting Faridkot, the terrorist's alleged hometown, find the information conflicting.

Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari told CNN that he "very much" doubts that Kasab is Pakistani, but pressure is building in India to prove that he is and unravel his links to Lashkar-e-Taiba, the militant organization U.S. and Indian investigators believe is behind in the attacks.

Hence, truth serum. Though it may be effective in getting Kasab to spill the beans, I'd rather that drugs and psychotherapy not become a substitute for good, old-fashioned intelligence.