Quote:
Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop - "You know, torture is the method of choice of the lazy, the stupid and the pseudo-tough."
- Adm. Hutson, former JAG Officer and current Dean of Franklin Pierce Law Center, at the Mukasey hearings.
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He forgets the logical, pragmatic and efficient. You can cite all the contrarian eggheads you like for the proposition torture isn't effective, but anyone who's broken a limb or been kicked in the balls would admit, infliction of intense pain will cause results.
Do not reply to this with some Kinsley-esque article where some professor suggests that a more clever form of psychological gaming gets better results. I'll admit there may be such techniques out there, and that a few serious pros know how to use them. But in a world where we have hundreds of these people in custody and need the information as quickly as possible, "torture" is a lamentable necessity. And really, when you start discussing "alternatives" to "torture," aren't you just talking about acceptable degrees of torture? In that regard, this debate is almost as pointless as the semantic contoversy over gay marriage and civil unions.
And the American public knows this. Which is why no one outside the NYTimes, DailyKos and John McCain even cares about the issue.*
*And McCain is biased for obvious reasons.
