Ann Althouse argues that
Responding to this, Publius reminds her that these “non-torture” techniques have killed people and Lindsay Beyerstein picks apart the Washington Post story that Althouse claims vindicates Dick Cheney.Critics of “harsh interrogation techniques” — they, of course, call it torture — bolster their moral arguments with the pragmatic argument that it doesn’t even work. How unusual it is for the media to disillusion us about that and force the moralists to get by on moral ideals alone!
All of which is all very well and good. I don’t doubt that torture – or whatever euphemism you want to give it – can work. But so what? The efficacy of the matter is not the only, or even the sole, issue to consider. Torturing people – and waterboarding and other techniques used by the CIA and US military certainly count as torture* – is wrong therefore our policy should be that we won’t actually torture people.
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