What if torture tactics could have prevented 9/11?
Re: “A perfect example of why torture is a failed tactic,” Oct. 31 editorial.
Is torture an effective tool to gain information to thwart another catastrophic attack on this nation? The Denver Post’s conclusion that it hasn’t worked is presumption off the scale. Like all clandestine operations, the successful extraction of accurate information can’t be broadcast or revealed, but The Post gropes for anything that will support a pacifist view.
What would The Post’s view be if the 2001 attacks on New York City and Washington had never occurred — and it was only being made public now that information gleaned from torture had prevented it? In other words, The Denver Post has no way of knowing how many plots since then have been defused because our security agencies employed harsh measures.
For six years — and counting — this society has thrived in domestic tranquility since the day four hijacked airliners were turned into world- changing ballistic missiles. Is the torture of a dozen combatants worth preventing a thousand American deaths? You bet your life.
R.K. Wilson, Denver
Your editorial correctly notes that torture is an ineffective means of extracting reliable information. Another pragmatic reason to forswear torture is because if we do it, then our soldiers and citizens captured overseas will face similar mistreatment. But the real reason we should not torture is much simpler: It is an affront to basic human dignity, and thereby degrades the torturer and the country under whose authority he acts. That is why every human-rights organization worldwide decries techniques like waterboarding and why our nation signed treaties and passed laws that prohibit such barbaric, abhorrent and inhuman methods.
Anyone who is unwilling to categorically renounce waterboarding does not deserve to be our next attorney general. And every member of this administration, no matter how high-ranking, who authorized such violations of international and federal law should be held accountable for those acts.
Steven D. Zansberg, Denver