Evil in Our Names. Again. Still. Or Something. 0
Apologists for torture are fond of invoking the “ticking time bomb”:
“What if [unnamed bad guys] had your [member of family] and you could save [him or her] by encasing said bad guy in an iron maiden? Well, huh, well, what do you say not, smart guy? So there! Nyah nyah nyah.”
(Granted, this example does give their argument a dignity and persuasiveness which it does not actually possess.l
Frank Rich in the Toimes cuts through the crap:
But there were no links between 9/11 and Iraq, and the White House knew it. Torture may have been the last hope for coercing such bogus “intelligence” from detainees who would be tempted to say anything to stop the waterboarding.
Ultimately, no sophistry can render evil into good.
