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Here is an example: Police have a man in custody who they believe has kidnapped a child, past experience with this man has also led them to believe that the child is currently in grave danger. If the police beat the information out of him, in order to save a life, are they torturing him? I don’t believe they are. Even in the definition you posted, inflicting pain to save lives isn’t listed as torture.



this is a massively flawed argument. it's the thing where you say, "what if we know there's a bomb, and we only have one hour to get to it, and we have the guy and we know he knows where it is?" it's a ridiculous nonsense situation that is extremely unlikely to ever happen. i see that you've switched to a child predator who is holding a child that might die if we don't beat his ass. very canny move. i still reject the logic, though, as an case for why torture is acceptable.

it's still an extreme case, and basing default laws on extreme cases seems like a bad idea. in that situation, legal or not, the guy is very likely to be tortured. if someone believes they could save a child's life (or stop a bomb from killing thousands) they will, and probably should, stomp a motherfucker. but they should do so knowing that there will be consequences. they are more than likely going to do it anyway, because they believe it is the right thing to do, because they believe they will be saving lives. but they need to know that it is wrong, and they will be held accountable. putting it on the table, even if you say it's only for certain special people to do to certain other special people, has an effect.

look at abu ghraib. i would argue that that debacle was directly relatable to our refusal to disavow torture. you can say that those guys were acting out of pocket, and they probably were, but they were also in an extreme and highly emotional situation, and there needed to be a very clear line that said, "we are the united states. we don't torture. ever."
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They're all human beings, and though she may be a liar and a manipulator, it's probably because she doesn't know any other way to survive.