Whenever I speak out against torture, some people invariably try to justify it with the ticking time bomb scenario. That's the hypothetical situation in which a bomb is ticking and you have to get the information from the bomber to stop it in time. When time is of the essence, as the theory goes, wouldn't it be better to hurry up and torture the information out of that one person in order to save the lives of many?
This theory has so many holes in it. And a recent piece by Alfred W. McCoy in The Progressive does a very good job of dismantling this justification for torture. [Read it.]
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