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Friday, August 26, 2011

A position on torture

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Overheard:
I am opposed to torture. My position on this is absolute. I expect the government to protect me and support my freedom to take that position. They may feel that, in order to protect me, it is sometimes necessary to employ aggressive interrogation techniques. That is their job to decide whether, in any particular case, it is necessary or not. But if they go too far they should not expect me to support them because my position is clear and unequivocal. I am opposed to torture.
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Posted by Unknown at 1:53 PM
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2 comments:

  1. TomAugust 27, 2011 at 1:12 PM

    Thanks, I seldom get the opportunity to use the word dichotomy.

    ReplyDelete
  2. RobAugust 29, 2011 at 1:48 PM

    Here's an Alan Dershowitz take on the topic.

    In an interview following the US operation that killed Bin Laden, Dershowitz expressed his personal opposition to the use of torture by the state. But he was very firm in making the following observation: We almost certainly have gotten good intelligence from "enhanced interrogations", and we would be foolish to believe that proscribing this wouldn't at all compromise our safety and security.

    Speaking for himself, Dershowitz is willing to make that trade-off (no harsh interrogations, less security). But he does not believe that there has been any serious collective reckoning with this choice (maybe what YA overheard is a bit of evidence for his point?). In fact, Dershowitz is very annoyed at what he sees as misinformation by some very vocal opponents of torture who routinely claim that it does not yield reliable information.

    [BTW, here's one of my favorite Alan Dershowitz interlocutions. It's not really apropos to the topic of YA's post but might give Tom another opportunity to use the word dichotomy.

    My memory of the exchange is pretty hazy, but I believe Dershowitz was taking part in a panel discussion about faith, and the topic was how the law should interact with people whose arguably criminal actions are motivated by religious belief.

    Said Dershowitz: "Were Abraham to raise the knife to kill his son Isaac, I would have him indicted for attempted murder."

    Another panelist interjected: "And then you would defend him." This was followed by some general laughter.

    Then Dershowitz said with a smile: "Yes, and then I would defend him."]

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