Men in the Mirror
Andrew Sullivan on America’s slippery torture slope:
And so abuse and torture are entirely dependent, we are told, on the apparent motives of the abusers and torturers. But torture is actually defined in the law as an illegal tool devised not for sadism’s sake but as a means to extract information. And notice the extremely slippery slope. We no longer have torture as an extreme last resort in the face of a ticking time-bomb; we have authorized it simply “to prevent a threatened terrorist attack.” That means any time anywhere by anyone authorized by the government after 9/11, no? And if a foreign government were to use such a standard? What do we say then?
Not only do such practices stand in stark defiance of the values we espouse in this war, but they ultimately prove counterproductive in a war that transcends bullets and bombs. If we’re to fight a war on ideology–one chock-full of caliphates, Jihads and insurgents–than we need to remember that maintaining our own ideals is part of such a war. When pressed on closing Guantanamo, or the extreme (if not illegal) tactics being used by Americans there, the Right often responds incredulously. To them, this unacceptable measure would be like the offering of quarter to those who’d likely deny us the very same.
And I think that’s precisely the idea.
Cross posted at Independent Liberal
Not to mention that "intel" gained through torture is about as reliable as that gained through consulting a fortune teller. Anyone marginally acquainted with history knows this already.