Much of Dick Cheney's ludicrous claims about the necessity of torture are easily explained if you recall the following old chestnut....
A psychiatrist is taking a walk in the park, when he sees a man (we'll call him Dick) sitting on bench tearing up pieces of paper and scattering them all over the place.
Psychiatrist: Why are you tearing up paper?
Dick: To keep the elephants away.
Psychiatrist: But there aren't any elephants around here.
Dick: See, it works, doesn't it?