Torture is a Pragmatic Issue
Glenn Greenwald’s criticism of Senators Dianne Feinstein and Ron Wyden for supporting torture in some circumstances is certainly justified, and his explanation of their motivations is reasonable:
[F]or the last year, Feinstein and Wyden were both insistent that the only way to end torture and restore America’s standing in the world was to require CIA compliance with the Army Field Manual — period. But as long as George Bush was President, it was cheap and easy for Feinstein and Wyden to argue that, because they knew there was no chance it would ever happen. As they well knew, they lacked the votes to override Bush’s inevitable veto of any such legislation. So as long as Bush was President, it was all just posturing, strutting around demanding absolute anti-torture legislation they knew would never pass.
But that has all changed now… Obama himself said repeatedly and unequivocally during the campaign that he supports legislation to compel CIA compliance with the Army Field Manual, making it virtually impossible for him to veto any such legislation if Congress passes it. Thus, Senate Democrats now know that if they pass the law they claimed so vehemently to support, it would actually get enacted.
So now, suddenly, Feinstein and Wyden are sending at least preliminary signals that they are far more “flexible” on the issue — I believe the all-justifying catchword in vogue now is “pragmatic” — than they ever were before. What had been an unequivocal principle has instantly transformed into caveat-riddled buzzphrases. I’m sure we’ll be hearing shortly — from many precincts — that those of us who insist that Democrats fulfill their commitment to compel the CIA’s compliance in all cases with the extant Army Field Manual (not some brand new, more permissive set of guidelines written and issued in secret and which provides for exceptions), are guilty of being dreaded “ideologues,” purity trolls and civil liberties extremists.
Greenwald’s argument leaves out a critically important component of the issue: that torture is ineffective for obtaining information. The experts are in agreement: Torture doesn’t work. The pro-torture position is not pragmatic; it’s ignorant:
Erroneous Assumptions: Popular Belief in the Effectiveness of Torture Interrogation:
People generally believe that torture is effective despite strong counterclaims by experienced military interrogators and intelligence experts. This article challenges us to reexamine some of our basic assumptions about torture by presenting four psychological factors—primarily errors and biases in human judgment—that help account for this mistaken popular belief.
Behind this Mortal Bone: The (In)Effectiveness of Torture:
The scant empirical evidence that can be uncovered regarding whether torture is good at eliciting information suggests that coercive mechanisms may not be especially effective interrogation tools.
The Utilitarian Justification of Torture:
Torture is prohibited by customary international law. Yet the practice widely persists. Beneath the rhetoric of human rights talk the utilitarian justification of torture commands a good deal of support among police and security agencies and is detectable between the lines of the discourse of denial. Can torture be justified on utilitarian grounds? Close examination of Bentham’s defence of torture, and the reasoning of the Landau Report in support of `moderate physical pressure’ in Israel, suggests that it cannot. The practice of torture will arguably best be countered by confronting the subterranean utilitarian justifications of torture on their own terms: in the long term it does not work but, rather, undermines the legitimacy of the state itself.
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