TRUE OR FALSE, LET'S KILL PEOPLE

Some commentators have specially deplored the use of torture by the Bush-Cheney administration to discover if possible a link between Al Quaeda and Saddam Hussein. They have rightly pointed out that the (dubious) justification that the information sought would save American lives from an imminent threat does not apply in this case. What was at stake was giving some color to the Bush-Cheney pretexts for invading Iraq. However, they have gone too far (Olberman in particular has gone too far) in suggesting that in this use of torture Bush-Cheney were seeking a false confession that would give them color. They would have been happy enough to have a link between Al Quaeda and Saddam Hussein established by a true confession. What they were guilty of in this instance -- guilty many times over as the tortures of the victim were repeated -- was ignoring the evidence that torture is all too likely to lead to a false confession; and not caring whether the confession was true or false, so long as it served their purposes. That is damnable.