What is missing from the current discourse about torture as an instrument of imperialism is serious examination of the question "Does it work?" Not just torture, but imperialism in general.
Not in a narrow sense, like did this particular torture produce this particular information, but in a larger sense. Can those our warlords beat up on hope to stand against our power? Or might they, in fact, retaliate quite effectively? Is our society safe, however degenerate, in the hands of our warlords? Or are their policies utterly bankrupt and bound, soon enough, to usher in not the Clash of Civilizations scenario favored by Neocons, but a state of chaos in which all are engulfed?
If evidence does not yet provide a clear answer to these questions, it provides more than enough basis for asking them in a serious way. Maybe We-The-People are actually willing to accept the torture of others. But are we also willing to accept our own devastation at the hands of our warlords?
This is by no means a theoretical exercise. It’s about how to design an effective activism on the left. When some of us tried to raise this issue at the 2006 Historians Against the War Conference in Austin, Texas we were completely rebuffed. To characterize victims of imperialism as potentially dangerous would play into Bush’s hands. It would tend to reinforce his police-state, anti-democratic methods of "protecting" our society. Privately, conference organizers found our position to be logical enough.
So what we had was a prominent group of left scholars using rightwing tactics to manipulate public opinion. I grew up on a left committed always to telling the public the truth, and trusting it to rise to the occasion. Psychology tells us that we are really not hard-wired to care deeply about what happens to people outside of our in-group. But we are hardwired to be able to expand our compassion when we understand, cognitively that this is necessary for our survival. So not only is it not good praxis to deny the public information pertaining to how much physical jeopardy continued imperial repression might well entail for us, it is also not even a rational way to produce the commitments the anti-war left desires.