Reply #122: Yes, it is always wrong. And no, TV is not reality. [View All]

We are where we are in Iraq in part due to bad information extracted from prisoners who were tortured -- they claimed there was a connection between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein, that he had WMD . . . . torture is a very bad way to get good info.

The ticking bomb scenario DOES NOT EXIST EXCEPT IN THE MOVIES AND ON TV. How in the world would ANYONE know there was a bomb to go off? No way that would happen.

Say, this scenario DID occur -- well, then, the interrogator could torture knowing FULL WELL that he could wind up in jail because it should ALWAYS be against the law. Then if by any chance the torture saved millions of lives, maybe he would be acquited at his trial.

But make no mistake about it -- as soon as you allow torture for the ticking bomb scenario, torture becomes more and more acceptable, until interrogators feel they MUST torture or they'll be in trouble with the higher ups for "not doing enough".

We signed the Geneva Conventions, which were set up after WWII due to the awful crimes against humanity perpetrated by Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. Since America has fallen from grace (and believe me, it has), the world is in a moral freefall. If we don't lead the fight for human rights, then nobody does.

Patrick Leahy is now working on righting this wrong.