Reddit reviews The Phoenix Program

Maybe something approaching what is described below, or a personality with which the perp keeps his true nature bottled-up until he reaches a saturation point; where the perp has to lose control of his false normalcy in order to act normal again.

I could definitely see a Rader type of situation.

I found the below information while researching enhanced/coercive interrogation techniques. I think it's possible the perp studied those types of torture techniques.

Does the personality described in the excerpt below seem familiar to anyone?

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>While poking around in the trash, Taylor saw a U.S. Army intelligence officer, accompanied by a Korean intelligence officer, pass by in a jeep. Taylor had been investigating the American for several months, so he quickly dropped what he was doing and followed them. Taylor had opened the case when a number of his Vietnamese sources began complaining to him that an American military officer, in cahoots with the Koreans, was murdering Vietnamese civilians for the CIA. The American officer was regularly seen at the Da Nang Interrogation Center, assaulting women prisoners and forcing them to perform perverse acts. He had a reputation as a sadist who enjoyed torturing and killing prisoners. A psychopath with no compunctions about killing people or causing them pain, he was the ideal contract killer.

>Taylor's principal source was a Vietnamese woman who knew where the American assassin lived. Together they watched the house, and when the man emerged, Taylor recognized him immediately. The man was the Da Nang Phoenix adviser, in which capacity he periodically appeared at the CID compound dressed in the uniform of a U.S. Army intelligence officer.

>"The guy was crazy," Taylor explained. "He was my height, slightly taller. He had dark hair and a runner's build. He had three or four names and eyes you'd never forget -- like he was acting at throwing a tantrum. Like Jim in Taxi. He was angry all the time," Taylor continued. "When he walked through a crowd of Vietnamese, he just pushed people aside. The first time I saw him, as a matter of fact, was outside Koslowski's office. A Vietnamese sentry blocked his way, so he slammed the guy up against the guardhouse. Right then and there I knew that someday we were going to fight.

>"He didn't look or act like a military officer," Taylor added. "That's why I started watching him."

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Please Be Advised: I am not suggesting the individual described above is the Golden State perp.

I included the excerpt cited above to serve as an example of the type of personality the field (sorry; I couldn't think of a more suitable word) of Enhanced/Coercive Interrogation tends to attract.

Source: The Phoenix Program By Douglas Valentine; page 172.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Phoenix-Program-Douglas-Valentine/dp/0595007384

**The book was reviewed by Morley Safer for The New York Times.




http://www.nytimes.com/1990/10/21/books/body-count-was-their-most-important-product.html


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Edit: grammar I think. Added a word.