[Peace-discuss] Torture comment

[Morton K. Brussel]

A cogent remark.  --mkb

Law and Policy
By Matthew Yglesias | bio



When I saw Ivo had a post titled "Banning Torture -- Matter of  
Policy, Not Law", I thought he was going to make a different point  
from the one he wound up making, so I'll make it instead. While it  
would certainly be better to pass the McCain Amendment than not to  
pass it, here's the problem: At the end of the day, it's not as if  
all this torturing has really been going on because torture is legal  
and so if we change the law it all comes to an end.

The issue, with regard to torture, has always been that despite its  
denials the administration is, as a matter of policy, engaging in a  
lot of torture and torture-esque behaviors. Considering that the  
activities we're talking about concern covert agencies and tend to  
take place abroad, it's hard to see how you can erect an airtight  
legal seal around this policy area. It's clear that the  
administration won't hesitate to engage in strained legal reasoning  
and venue-shopping to try to do whatever it thinks it needs to do.  
Better laws would be nice, but some of us thought we covered those  
bases already with the Geneva Convention, and the reason that wound  
up not working is that the people in charge didn't want it to work.  
An administration staffed by people committed to human rights  
wouldn't let this stuff go on. Given an administration lacking such  
commitments, the abuses are all-but-inevitable irrespective of the law.

Dec 14, 2005 -- 12:26:56 AM EST
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