With that said, human beings, no matter how resolute, no matter how ideologically submerged, no matter how deeply entrenched in their cause and beliefs…are still human beings. And being human leaves you vulnerable to the human condition.

I’ll take mind fucking someone, over torture any day.

We are basically arguing about 3 guys who were waterboarded. Only three that it was determined that they knew something that they were not giving up that made it worth while to go that extra step. So what are you complaining about? You’ve already stated your biggest problem with torture was that it became public. If they had kept shit under wraps you would be cool with it. But if you are convinced torture doesn’t work than there is NO reason, EVER to torture.

That’s kind of the real issue, if it doesn’t work than doing it is worse than doing nothing.

Oh I suspect most leads are dead ends, regardless of where ou get them. Again, I’ve seen it all on L&O.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=183471

You think that every single one of this terrorists are zombies who will refuse to speak unless tortured to do so..and once tortured will give up all their good in a truthful fashion… you think that they must all be so hard-lined as to no longer be ‘tainted’ with human emotions.. and thus are unable to be talked to or treated like a human..

Do I think OBL would spill his guts out? no.. I don’t.. do we know that Zubaydah did? Yes we do.. Do we know the guy who gave us Zubaydah did it after being given an apology and a cookie? yes we do… for every one of your ‘zombie-like’ terrorists, I would bet there are 5 more who would easily break under regular questioning..

and for cripes sake.. its not like the guys doing these interrogations are Barney Fifes.. they do know what they are doing..and they have ‘broken’ even the most hard-lined of any criminals without torture them..

You seem to give our guys a ‘retardation’ gene and these terrorists ’super-powers’ over those of mere mortals.. it’s the same idea going around with putting them in our prisons.. like somehow these ’super villains’ are somehow more capable than the Americans who questions/ guard them..

why do you think Americans are so lacking and these ppl have such super-powers and are better than us?

besides.. you skipped the point about the time… if there is time to run down all the false leads that we know we get when ppl are tortured, then there is time to NOT torture them and work on them in a ‘proven’ way..

of course I have no qualms on torturing someone as a form of punishment..why would I.. you know I am very hard-line when it comes to that stuff.. But we’re not hurting these guys b/c they deserve it.. or to make us feel better in some small way.. right? we are torturing them to see if they know something.. there is a slight difference…

Also, I find myself a little surprised that you’ve little qualms in torture as a form of punishment and more so in the pursuit of intelligence information. Completely backwards in my opinion.

I hope that someday when we catch Bin Ladin, you won’t expect to get everything we need from “good cop/bad cop,” or offering him a reduced sentence if he squeals. Apparently you would rather waterboard him as punishment for 9/11 than to prevent future 9/11’s.

Like I said, mirror opposite. However great blog. If only you could harness those formidable argumentive powers for the forces of right rather than… you know, your side.