Pragmatic Analysis of Torture

Fundamentally, I could probably justify the use of torture if the only consequence was our putting a hurt to some guilty evil bastard. His dumping information on us, even under those circumstances, would be OK with me if that process resulted in some tangible benefit to our men and women in service.

But I've been thinking about this a great deal and I have to give a lot of credit to Andrew Sullivan. His blog is very nearly 100% dedicated to this topic these days. His convictions on this matter and this story today have really brought it home.

The facts, as I see them now, are:

• Torture rarely procures actionable intelligence
• Torture puts our guys at risk in this and future wars. If the US won't adhere to a "no torture" policy, why would we expect our enemies to do so?
• We sometimes beat the hell out of a prisoner and then have to let him go (as may happen in the situation I note in the story link in this article.)
• Torture is immoral and immoral actions are only justified if all of the alternatives are more immoral (possible justification for using the A Bomb at the end of WW2)

The other points above are probably more compelling to most but today I want to focus on the third item above. What happens if we beat the hell out of someone and then let him go? If he were guilty, I suppose he might leave having learned a lesson about how not to mess with the wrong people. That would certainly be the message W would like to send (and all of his redneck supporters would clap and stop thinking about the other consequence because, well, we kicked some towel-head's ass.) Heck, he may even go back to his folks over there and tell them it isn't worth it. But what do you think the odds are of that happening? If he's guilty of trying to kill the President and he withstood 20 months of torture, I'd say he's probably pretty dedicated to his cause, no? How dedicated is he now? More or less?

If he wasn't guilty, what are the odds that his experiences with this practice have endeared the US Legal System to this individual? Is he more or less likely to be a good citizen? Is he more or less likely to support the "wrong" people with money and/or action?

If he's released, this isn't the first prisoner to be let loose. We've released prisoners from Gitmo and other military prisons by the hundreds. Did those folks go back to their respective countries with tales of streets paved with gold? The American dream! Are they telling their relatives how great we are and how their culture ought to emulate ours?

I guess my point is simple: common sense rules out our use of torture.