I’ve always subscribed to the idea that torture is an unqualified evil. I’ve always associated torture with evil third world dictatorships, leering medieval Inquisitors, sadistic Roman tyrants, prehistoric and cruel Celtic tribes, and so on. One person is a prisoner, helpless and unarmed, and other people exploit the prisoner’s helplessness to make them feel extreme pain. My attitude toward torturers has always been the most extreme loathing possible, as they represent the worst and most damnable instincts of mankind. Now of course, possibly as a result of a very well coordinated PR effort, we have lately been introduced to a variety of “sympathetic torturers” in films and television (The Bride in “Kill Bill”, Sayeed from “Lost”, Jack Bauer from that show that I’ve never watched because it looked and smelled like propaganda- I may be wrong). In any event, the excuse that we get from the New Generation of Torturers for engaging in this most reprehensible, disturbing, and loathsome enterprise is that it “saves lives.” Representative Elton Gallegly stated this as an unequivocal fact today. I apologize for the pontification and thank you for your patience in reading this post. Gallegly makes a statement in the form of a question to John Ashcroft. His statement is this: we have definitely foiled terrorist plots based on information we got through torture. My question (and I think it is an important one) is this: is Gallegly making this up? I think he’s lying, and that the United States has never foiled a single terrorist plot because of information obtained through torture. I think it’s nothing but a big, disgusting scam. Prove me wrong, with citations and links, if you can.
with citations and links if you can.
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p>My guess is that the information that would prove either right is classified.
We give up the moral High Ground if we accept the practices of our foes.
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p>just my opinion as usual