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We sit here in the light of day, with our wits about us, without anyone shooting at us, and we are discussing if torture is wrong. Of course it is. If we want to pretend that we are the good guys, then we need to outlaw torture. This should be self evident.
But the reality is that torture is just fine in a situation like the one UT describes, but only if it's secret. Only if nobody finds out. We have bad guys working for our country to fight the bad guys working for the enemy. But we need to keep our hands clean. We need to be able to deny that we are associated with our bad guys. We need to be able to prosecute them if they mess up and get caught torturing someone.
Torture is wrong. I am absolutely against torture. I don't want us to torture anyone. But war is also wrong, and we are at war. Terrorism is wrong, and we are the target of terrorists. It's messy out there. Once you unleash the dogs of war, you need to do what it takes to win, and you can't have a weak stomach about it.
But if the discussion is about the "rules," then clearly you can't allow torture as part of the rules. Only bad guys torture, and we aren't the bad guys.
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