The Bush administration's shameful torture policy
The Economist has a good leader on the shady practices of the US administration, when it comes to treatment of suspects and prisoners.
The two chief problems with the policy are:
The two chief problems with the policy are:
- It sinks the US to a level of barbarism where it betrays it's great liberal heritage. As long as the Soviet communist bloc existed it was easy to take the higher moral ground, but once it fell the "We're not like them" motivation is gone. And sadly it means "we" are more like them than we should be. It also makes it harder to win over people.
- Torture is notoriously (besides just being notorious) unreliable for getting correct information out. It is simply an instrument of terror, and if the US intends to use it a such, they should be forthright with it. Maybe they are. Are they themselves leaking the information on secret camps? If they intend to use torture as a deterrent that is what they ought to do. Scary.