Director Alex Gibney talks about his thoughts during the making of his Oscar-winning 2007 documentary, "Taxi to the Dark Side." It's about Dilawar, a young Afghan taxi driver who was tortured to death at Bagram Air Force Base even after there was a consensus that he was innocent.

Gibney also directed "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room," and his most recent movie, "Gonzo: The Life and Work of Hunter S. Thompson," will be available on DVD on Nov. 18.

Q: Why do you think the Bush administration felt harsher interrogation techniques were needed?

A: I think that's a mystery we still don't know the answer to. My belief is that they were panicked and weak and exhibited a combination of ignorance and arrogance. Because, if you know the history of intelligence gathering you know that by and large torture only gets you information that the prisoner thinks the interrogator wants to hear so the pain can stop.

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PG audio

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Q: Your father, who was a Navy interrogator during WWII, told you "our principles gave us strength the enemy didn't have."

A: That's right. At the very least it works just as well. He and others like him developed a rapport with the prisoners to get information.

Q: How does making a film like "Taxi to the Dark Side" affect your faith in our government?

A: Well, it shook my faith in this particular government. In these particular civilians. I mean, I think it's healthy in our system in our democracy for us to question our public officials. What I did find out about this administration was darker than I had originally imagined. That did shake me up a little bit. What I discovered was that maybe this administration likes corrosive interrogation techniques precisely because it gives them information that they want to hear, information that happens to correspond with their politics. That's a scary thought.

Q: What about the argument that we have not been attacked since 9/11 and that is because of things like the Patriot Act and the Military Commissions Act and aggressive interrogation?

A: Well, show us the proof. Then they'll say 'Sorry, the proof is secret.' I don't know what to say about that. It hasn't stopped the growing resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan and so maybe we haven't been hit here in this country, but you have to ask yourself how many times can one administration allow us to be hit?

Q: Did you find it scary how quickly soldiers adapt to a new moral code?

A: I do find it scary, but in a funny way I don't find it surprising. Because when your buddies are being killed, you naturally want to hit back. It was the military rules that were designed to keep a disciplined platoon from turning into a mob. That's what happens with torture -- not only do you get bad information but it begins to corrupt everything, the spirit of the soldiers and the very rule of law we sought to uphold.

Q: When you began the process of interviewing Dilawar's interrogators did you expect to feel sympathy for them?

A: When I started I did not expect to feel sympathy for them. After all, some of these guys in tandem had beaten this young man to death. This was a 122-pound young man who turned out was perfectly innocent. But the more time I spent with these guys the more sympathetic I became and you understand the process by which they were turned. It doesn't excuse them. I think they deserve to be punished.

Q: Did you speak to any who refused to go along?

A: There were a few people who said they resisted.

Q: But the written orders never came?

A: Correct. It hasn't been easy, and you do see what happens to people who do resist. Look at [Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift, legal counsel to Osama bin Laden's driver at Guantanamo Bay. Swift was passed over for promotion after winning a case before the U.S. Supreme Court against the Bush administration about trying terrorists.]. In my view he is a great American hero. Look how badly he's been treated by the military just for doing his job.

Q: The way prisoners were being picked up in Afghanistan reminded me of the Salem witch hunts, with people turning in those they didn't like or had a grudge against.

A: I totally agree with you, and this is something a lot of people don't understand. Ninety-three percent of them weren't picked up on the battlefield. They were picked up, a lot of them, because they were turned over for bounty. Donald Rumsfeld says in the film "these leaflets will fall like snowflakes in Chicago." These are bounty leaflets -- turn in a friend and get some money.

Q: The other point the film makes is that mistreating innocent prisoners creates animosity and more enemies.

A: Everybody says Bush is keeping us safe. Why is it safe to take friends and turn them into enemies? Does that sound like something safe to you? It sounds like it is making my kids a lot less safe.

Q: By the way, how does it feel to win an Oscar? Does it change your life?

A: It didn't change my life, but it felt good (laughing). It felt good.