As usual you make some good points. Torture, as I found out, can be extremely difficult to define which may be why the United States has stayed so far away from the line — historically. No one tactic was probably torture in and of itself but the combination, in my mind, was clearly torture. It is my opinion that we should stay away from degrading treatment which would include stripping a detainee naked. I guess, for me, the bottom line is why are we doing this?

My problem with torture is twofold — it says a lot about us and it is not helpful. With regards to that last phrase, “it is not helpful,” I think this is key. If we’re not getting meaningful information from torture (enhanced interrogation) then why do it?

Again, I appreciate your comments.

On the other hand Margaret seems very concerned about the humiliation. I admit that the humiliation was not big on my list. I would not condone humiliation simply for the sake of humiliation. But how accommodating do you want to be, For example, consider this shocker:

“He was intentionally touched by females, making it impossible for him to pray (you can’t pray if you’re unclean and you’re unclean if you’re touched by female). “

I don’t know what this means. Can female guard never set hands on a Muslim? Is touch a euphemism? Or was he touched in that special place? Maybe female prison guard should wear burkas. Anyway, I don’t consider women brushing up against me humiliating although I can sympathize with the need to pray afterwards.

I would imagine that prison is humiliating enough for this terrorist since he didn’t die fighting for Allah. Imagine being the 20th 911 highjacker. That must be real impressive to fellow jihadists at home, being the guy who missed his flight.

ECT: You spend a lot of time on the utility of these tactics which detracts from your argument that these tactics are so horrible that they should never be used. Your argument seems to be, since we learned nothing then we should have not wasted our time with this interrogation. Of course, how do you know that nothing is to be learned until the interrogation. Even then, you still may not know.

I would agree that being boiled in oil should never be done even if we got OBL’s address. I can’t say the same for sleep deprivation or women touching jihadist.