--- In [email protected], [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > > In a message dated 10/1/06 6:27:58 P.M. Central Daylight Time, > [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > > In [EMAIL PROTECTED] (mailto:[email protected]) , > "shempmcgurk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > <snip> > > > P.S.: In the (vanishingly unlikely) case of Dershowitz's > > > ticking-bomb scenario, of course the interrogator might > > > decide the chance to save 100,000 lives was worth the > > > risk of breaking the Geneva Convention rules. > > > > Would you? > > I hope I'd have the guts, as I've already said. > > Oh Judy, that is a no brainer! But since there are people that > would have a problem or not have the guts, we need a law that > would allow somebody who does have the guts to do so.
You just contradicted yourself. If the person has the guts to break the law against torture in such a circumstance, there's no need to have a law that allows it. I think most people who have been put in charge of interrogating terrorist suspects would have the guts. Remember the stipulations: You're *certain* there is a bomb, and you're *certain* the person has information that would make it possible to keep the bomb from going off. If you're successful, you'll be a hero, and you're unlikely to get much punishment. If you don't even *try*, and 100,000 people die, you'll be a pariah for the rest of your life. As you say, it's a no-brainer in that situation. But in any case, as I keep pointing out, the ticking-bomb scenario doesn't justify legalizing torture just on the vanishingly unlikely chance that it actually ever occurs. I'm comfortable with an absolute prohibition on torture, leaving it up to the interrogator's conscience and sense of personal responsibility should the ticking-bomb situation become real. To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
