Regarding Torture

In the wake of 9/11 and the beginning of the war on terror in Afghanistan (my, that's gone well, hasn't it?), we opened a debate in this country in which sometimes 7 or 8 out of 10 respondents to polls agreed that torture would be an acceptable means by which to extract information from people. It seemed to matter little to people that studies suggested information derived from such means was often flat-out wrong (those tortured would invent information to rescue themselves from more pain.

As I lay in bed last night unable to sleep (at least in part because of these Iraqi charges of abuse), that phenomenon came to mind. I was reminded of it again with a CNN poll early this morning asking if torture as part of an interrogation is ever acceptable (right now, 54% say no, meaning 46% say yes).

Thus, sadly, as we sit here shaking our heads and feeling sick over these pictures and while Bush makes certain grunt GIs are punished, perhaps we need to accept some culpability and rethink our sanctimonious positions.