First thought after hearing that info re Osama bin Laden’s whereabouts came from “enhanced interrogation”: “Oh, Lord, how long will it take for Chaney to assert on Fox News, ‘See, America? Torture works!’ ” (Answer: hours.)
So was delighted read this by Rachel Kleinfeld in the NYT:
I know, some people are saying . . . that torture helped us get the intelligence that ultimately led to the courier who worked for bin Laden. But the facts simply don’t support the claim. Torture produced a lead, but it took nearly five years between that lead and the end-game, which simply shows that torture produces intelligence leads that can’t be trusted and must be verified through other means.
Let’s take a moment to celebrate Ms. Kleinfeld’s conclusion, shall we? Let’s take a moment.
Suppose that killing 1000 people would have yielded up Osama Bin Laden. Most people would agree that the result would not have justified doing that much evil. How about killing one person? How about torturing a few people? Maybe each person celebrating bin Laden’s death should ask if getting that result would have justified torturing _them_?