Tortured thinking
James Forsyth 3:23pmThe debate over torture in the US has descended into tragic farce. Some on the right are so determined to always take the toughest position possible on any war on terror question that they sound like a Stephen Colbert parody of themselves. The most recent example of this is Deroy Murdock, normally someone whose writings are well worth reading, declaring that “Waterboarding is something of which every American should be proud.”
When those sympathetic to Murdock called him out for this and said that while waterboarding might be necessary in extreme circumstances—the ticking time bomb and the like—it is not a good thing per se, Murdock waded back in to say "I AM complaining that we do NOT waterboard enough. Yes, we need to waterboard more.”
Worryingly the leading presidential candidates on the GOP side—with the notable and honourable exception of John McCain—occasionally take the same glib view. Mitt Romney wants to double Guantanamo in size and Rudy Giuliani dismisses concerns over techniques tantamount to torture as being soft. (As Gerry Baker points out in The Times today, Giuliani has even taken to suggesting that the way he had mafia members questioned in New York City was close to torture.) If the war on terror is to maintain public support, then it has to be conducted in a way that is reconcilable with our values.
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NigelFry
November 10th, 2007 8:03am Report this commentJames, remember the enemy we are fighting. They want vast numbers of us dead. If a little light waterboarding teases the truth out of these homocidal maniacs, then what's the problem? Their whole point is that they think they can beat us, because they fight dirtier. Your attitude takes as its premise the idea that we are NOT at war.
John
November 11th, 2007 1:07am Report this commentThe ends justify the means, I suppose?
Verity
November 11th, 2007 9:00pm Report this commentNigel Fry - Agreed. Smugness - failing to understand the situation in a rosy cloud of self-righteousness - is not going to win this war. John, who doubtless imagines he has made a sharp, chilling point: It depends on the ends. If the ends are survival of advanced, free Western society as opposed to subjugation to a desert tribe of Dark Agers with an abhorrent belief system they want to force on everyone else, yes, the ends justify the means.
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