OK, and also I'll agree with this much:
Torture like that makes for unreliable confessions. I once heard the FBI had a different line in extracting confessions through some kind of empathy techniques, used in WW2 to get significant information from enemy prisoners. Maybe that could have been attempted here.
That's not saying that I agree this confession is spurious. If it does turn out to be false (still very unlikely IMO) then that will be more likely due to the reasons suggested by ER or Mary Anne than by your contributions.
Also, BTW: reading about this stuff does make me personally very uncomfortable. Having said that - once I'm reminded of who these guys are, I lose all sympathy.
Finally: apologies for the 'waste of space' remark.