Book Review - Mainstreaming Torture: Ethical Approaches in the Post-9/11 United States by Rebecca Gordon
A terrorist threatens to blow up an elementary school with all the kids inside it. Agent X doesn’t know which school it is, but knows who the bomber is. There’s only one hour to get the information out of the terrorist. What alternative is there but torture?
That’s the kind of scenario that’s been posed again and again since the 9/11 attacks, corollary to the oft-repeated phrase that “the gloves are off now” and the idea that we must do anything to prevent other attacks, even if it means ignoring our own values. ...