It is possible that if the United States had held a national vote in 2002 on whether the CIA should torture suspected terrorists, most Americans would have voted “yes.”
But this nation had no such vote, and torture was and remains illegal. And so as Wednesday, “Torture just didn’t happen after all. Contrary to the president’s recent statement, we didn’t ‘torture some folks.’ Real actual people engaged in torture. Some of these people are still employed by the CIA and U.S. government.”
Udall is right across the board. Not only is it maddening to hear that “we” tortured people, when most of us had no evidence for years that torture was even going on, but the expression shields actual culprits who at the very least should not be employed by the federal government.
Udall also homed in on one of the great moral hazards of torture. While you may intend to use it only on the worst cases, you are likely soon to find yourself resorting to it for other purposes, too.
The CIA even “tortured detainees to confirm they didn’t have intelligence. Not because they thought they did,” Udall said.
We tend to believe that even in 2002, most Americans would have balked at such a morally bankrupt course.
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