Torture Roundup

Ginmar has written two excellent posts on the ineffectiveness of torture: Why torture is unpatriotic is a great followup to Torturous. (When an Army interrogator who's done a tour in Iraq talks about why torture is a bad plan, I listen.)

Liberty Street reports that the prosecution of Jose Padilla was hindered because torture was used. Abu Zubaydah was captured in March 2002, two months before Padilla was arrested, but Mohammed was not arrested until 2003. (Source: BBC timeline.) In Mohammed's case, at least, the Padilla situation was not a ticking time bomb scenario. There was no reason for "excessive" waterboarding to be used to interrogate him concerning Padilla. This would seem to support slippery slope concerns: if torture is acceptable in a ticking time bomb scenario, then it may slowly become acceptable in other situations.

Even if torture weren't a betrayal of American ideals, and would be effective in all cases, it weakens the prosecutors' ability to hold alleged criminals accountable. The Ocala Star-Banner and Miami Herald have more on this.

"There's no way you could use what he said in military custody against him," a former senior government official said. (OSB)

In the Padilla case, the administration wanted to prevent a showdown in the U.S. Supreme Court over whether the president can hold a U.S. citizen indefinitely as an enemy combatant.

The Justice Department faced a Monday deadline to urge the Supreme Court not to review the Padilla case. Many legal experts expected the court to take the case and resolve the issue of presidential authority. ... "I think this is a sign of fear that they would lose," said David Rivkin, who has worked in the Justice Department for Republican administrations. (MH)

Law professor David Luban has written an interesting editorial about the moral and legal concerns surrounding torture, as well as current public discourse.