Abstract

This chapter builds, solves, and interprets the first version of a game theoretic model of interrogational torture based on the restrictions and assumptions of the CIA ideal sketched in the previous chapter. This Bush Interrogational Torture model introduces the reader to the core elements of a game theoretic model — the players, their moves, outcomes, payoffs, the timing of the players’ moves, and the information available to them when they move. Walking the reader through the steps in solving the game reveals the quixotic nature of the Bush ideal model: strange outcomes not predicted even by proponents. These failures, however, indicate the fixes necessary to make in a more realistic model discussed in the next chapter.