Kirchick: 'Why shouldn't we waterboard Abdulmutallab?'

Gay right-wing provocateur Jamie Kirchick, in the NY Daily News, asks, "Why shouldn't we waterboard Abdulmutallab? The ticking time bomb scenario is here."

My quick answer: Because waterboarding is torture, and torture is against the law. Because expert after expert, as distinct from Jack Bauer fans, insist that it doesn't work. Because it elicits not the truth but what the person being tortured thinks the torturer wants to hear. Because it destroys our own moral standing and gives us no right to complain when our own soldiers are abused as POWs. Because betraying our values in order to defend ourselves is another way of destroying ourselves.

Andrew Sullivan addressed the issue in October 2007.

Okay, readers, no comments about waterboarding Jamie Kirchick.

Update: Bob Summersgill comments, "It seems that the right wants to shred any remains of law and morality and head straight for Lord of the Flies."

Comments

[Barrett Brick]

Small wonder "The Lord of the Flies" is one of the most banned books in the USA.