Committing war crimes for the “right reasons” – Glenn Greenwald – Salon.com.
Glenn Greenwald weighs in on Ross Douthat’s post at the The Atlantic. Douthat believes that while Bush et al. may have violated international laws, treaties and domestic laws against the torture of prisoners, but it was justified, and still is, by a real fear of Islamic terrorists. Glenn goes on to point out that just about every genocide, war crime and violation of human rights ever committed can be justified exactly the same way.
Sullivan weighed in here and here. He’s vicerially opposed to torture in any form for moral and practical reasons. It doesn’t work, it endangers us, it destroys any moral standing we may have had, it wastes resources on false intelligence.
I think Glenn makes a persuasive point. If fear, either real or imagined is a justification for torture, then it’s a free for all. There must be a line drawn about what is and is not permissable. Torture has no justification. Imagined “ticking time bomb” scenarios from 24 not withstanding. It does at least as much damage to us, to our institutions and our moral grounding as it does to it’s victims. Especially when sanctioned by our leader so openly.
Let me say this as clearly as I can: There is no justification for the torture of prisoners, ever.
