Scalia endorses torture.

[erik_kosberg]

Fine by him.

[AuntieEmma[$]]

"I suppose it's the same thing about so-called torture. Is it really so easy to determine that smacking someone in the face to determine where he has hidden the bomb that is about to blow up Los Angeles is prohibited in the constitution?" he asked.

Has he been watching a "24" marathon?

[erik_kosberg]

I love that so-called torture bit. Must be sort of like so-called murder, so-called robbery, so-called forgery, and all of those other so-called crimes.

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

I heard this on NPR this morning and that was my thought exactly, Emma. And I don't even watch 24.

[frazzledspice]

He is my least favorite justice by far.

And I always have a question....

If we have things like sodium pentathol and truth serums that could make a person tell the truth humanely, why do we have to think about torture under any circumstances?

[erik_kosberg]

frazzledspice said

If we have things like sodium pentathol and truth serums that could make a person tell the truth humanely, why do we have to think about torture under any circumstances?

They don't work anywhere near as well as many people think. And they violate the 4th and 5th Amendments as well as the Geneva conventions.

[conradd]

Biggles: Here they are, lord.
Ximinez: Now, old lady -- you have one last chance. Confess the heinous sin of heresy, reject the works of the ungodly -- *two* last chances. And you shall be free -- *three* last chances. You have three last chances, the nature of which I have divulged in my previous utterance.
Wilde: I don't know what you're talking about.
Ximinez: Right! If that's the way you want it -- Cardinal! Poke her with the soft cushions!

Ximinez: Confess! Confess! Confess!
Biggles: It doesn't seem to be hurting her, lord.
Ximinez: Have you got all the stuffing up one end?
Biggles: Yes, lord.
Ximinez [angrily hurling away the cushions]: Hm! She is made of harder stuff! Cardinal Fang! Fetch...THE COMFY CHAIR!

[JARRING CHORD]

[Zoom into Fang's horrified face]

Fang [terrified]: The...Comfy Chair?

[Biggles pushes in a comfy chair -- a really plush one]

Ximinez: So you think you are strong because you can survive the soft cushions. Well, we shall see. Biggles! Put her in the Comfy Chair!

[They roughly push her into the Comfy Chair]

Ximinez [with a cruel leer]: Now -- you will stay in the Comfy Chair until lunch time, with only a cup of coffee at eleven. [aside, to Biggles] Is that really all it is?
Biggles: Yes, lord.
Ximinez: I see. I suppose we make it worse by shouting a lot, do we? Confess, woman. Confess! Confess! Confess! Confess

The horror of it all.

[drmomentum[$]]

To fight monsters we must become monsters.

Scalia is just a little ahead of the rest of us.

[rmthunter]

Deb --

I'm a little puzzled at the purpose of your post. Is it meant to imply that our "enhanced interrogation techniques" are really not very harsh and so it's perfectly all right to use them, no matter what the law and treaties we have signed say?

[slick4591[$]]

Waterboarding Not Legal Now, Justice Dept. Lawyer Says - The Lede - Breaking News - New York Times Blog

[erik_kosberg]

As if it had ever been legal.

BTW, "...the most detailed narrative I've seen for how the Justice Department has reacted to Congress' and courts' attempts to prohibit the use of torture."

[erik_kosberg]

Drop by Drop: Forgetting the History of Water Torture in U.S. Courts

There is no statute of limitations for torture, right?

[erik_kosberg]

"Yes, torture does migrate, and there are some good examples of it both in American and French history. The basic idea here is that soldiers who get ahead torturing come back and take jobs as policemen, and private security, and they get ahead doing the same things they did in the army. And so torture comes home."