[Peace-discuss] Torture comment

[Ricky Baldwin]

Exactly.  A lot of stuff is illegal.  That's why it's
up to us to change their actual behavior.

--- "Morton K. Brussel" <brussel4 at insightbb.com>
wrote:

> 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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