Scott Adams (think Dilbert) has opened a can of whoop-ass on torture, in a manner that will appeal the all sides of the "debate":
Lately I've moved from "pretty certain" to "doubtful" about the effectiveness of torture.
Today I'm addressing only whether torture sometimes works better than conventional interrogation. If torture doesn't work better than the alternatives, not ever, then you don't need to discuss morality or world opinion because torture doesn't even pass the first filter. I'm not saying that morality and world opinion aren't important -- you just don't need to worry about them unless torture at least produces good results.
Can he be serious? For the "yes and no" answer, see below...
Adams continues:
I used to think that torture probably worked well, at least in selective cases, based on the fact that it is so often the method of choice. All of those law-enforcement professionals around the world couldn't be wrong, could they? Plus, I imagine that if someone attached electrodes to my scrotum, I'd be talking plenty compared with the "let's be friends" interrogation method. So torture certainly passes the sniff test.
So torture smells okay to Scott, but maybe it doesn't taste so good:
Now granted, it may be hard to find someone who will confess to being a torturer. And it may be even harder to find someone who was tortured and then is willing to endorse it. But it seems that with all the torturing going on, you could at least find a friend of a friend who saw it work.
Now, I don't want to ruin the read for you, or violate "fair use" (although why be fair to a former torture-lover?), so I'll just add this tidbit:
The other day I was watching Bill Maher on his HBO show, "Real Time." That's where I turn for useful political opinions. (I wish I were joking about that.) Maher made a point that put things into perspective for me. He noted that if the situation arose where torturing some terrorist would clearly save American lives, it's going to happen no matter what the law says.
Bill Maher? Yup, sure.
Read the whole thing: http://www.washingtonpost.com/...