November 6, 2007

• Should torture be an acceptable method of gaining military intelligence?

  There are several practical problems with torture – besides the obvious moral and ethical implications.

  1)  While it is easy to see why torture would increase the probability of a response to questioning – there is no guarantee that the response will be truthful.  You can get anyone to say anything if you hurt them enough, even if that anything isn’t the truth.  This is ultimately why information gathered during torture isn’t used as evidence in US courts.   Take an innocent (or guilty) person and put them in a life/death situation – I’d be willing to bet that the innocent person breaks as often (or more) than the guilty person. 

  2)  Escalation.  First its ok to torture terrorists.  Then its ok to torture people associated with terrorists.  Then its ok to torture family of terrorists etc… etc…  Its a very slippery slope when you say “by any means necessary”.

  3)  Even if you think its ok to torture, you have to admit that A LOT of people don’t.  You cannot ignore the power of public opinion.  If you start to lose the moral high ground, you’ll also start to lose public support and the support of your allies.  You also make it harder for moderates in your enemies’ camps to push for peace. 

     

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