Torture FAIL
Sunday, May 3rd, 2009
In his recent article, Dan Froomkin deftly reduced these Inquisition-era pro-torture arguments to a quivering bowl of jelly — with proper framing, reason, and facts — no “tortured logic” required.
Krauthammer’s Asterisks - White House Watch - Washington Post
Charles Krauthammer, in his Washington Post opinion column this morning, tries to find loopholes for impermissible evil.
“Torture is an impermissible evil. Except under two circumstances,” he writes.
“The first is the ticking time bomb. An innocent’s life is at stake. The bad guy you have captured possesses information that could save this life. He refuses to divulge. In such a case, the choice is easy.”
Actually, no. The ticking time bomb scenario only exists in two places: On TV and in the dark fantasies of power-crazed and morally deficient authoritarians. In real life, things are never that certain. And trained interrogators say that even in the most extreme circumstances, traditional methods are the most effective.