Saturday, December 06, 2008

I thought this was worth preseving

From Time:
The right answer here is not for the executive branch to have zero latitude in the highest stakes interrogations," Wittes said. "And you don't have to be Dick Cheney to believe that." In the past, members of the intelligence community have also argued for keeping some approved methods of interrogation classified, so as not to tip off enemies to what they might possibly face in the future.

From Me:

Again the biggest problem I have with this whole discussion is the concept of latitude. As soon as there's latitude then there's no longer a line preventing torture. I'm sympathetic to the notion that techniques might need to be classified, but as soon as you suggest that agents in the field should be free to apply their own judgment then all bets are off. Genuine, unambiguous torture will be soon to follow. Has everyone forgotten how much fun the soldiers at Abu Ghraib appeared to be having?

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