There is a CBS crime show called “Without a Trace,” which focuses exclusively on the crime of kidnapping. A recent episode trailer showed someone, apparently a suspected kidnapper or accomplice, bound to a chair. A very nasty-looking knife is held up to the camera. “How far would you go to get the story?” the voiceover demands.
Torture as a dramatic device is old hat, but in the current political climate, it’s especially disturbing. The role of the show “24” has been much discussed, but disinformation on torture in the pop culture realm is a broader phenomenon. The fallacy of the “ticking bomb” scenario, earnestly promoted by dictatorships, and now, by the American republic under Bush, is at the root of the problem.
[Update: I happened to catch the last 10 minutes of “Without a Trace”: the bad cop (torturer) assures the good cop that the blade is just for show, but then winds up taking off the suspect’s thumb. Good cop drops bad cop to the floor with a punch and draws his gun on him. So, not a pro-torture message, as the trailer insinuated. At least that’s something.]
The case of Khaled el-Masri, whose appeal the Supreme Court just declined to hear, gives the lie to the “ticking bomb” — the idea that “enhanced interrogation” is simply about gaining information from suspects, and only in the most urgent circumstances. El-Masri was kidnapped (ironic, given the theme of “Without a Trace”) and tortured, despite having nothing to do with terrorism. Other instances of this are well documented (peruse the torture archives at Balkinization). The Bush administration tortured first and sorted it out later. Nothing was gained; an enormous amount was lost.
As usual, Andrew Sullivan is one of the most clear and consistent voices on this topic — two recent posts are essential reading. This is especially clarifying, in response to the pro-torture right:
… yes, I do think that in a choice between legalizing torture and the loss of American lives, I would choose the loss of American lives, including my own.
This is not righteous victimhood. It is righteous self-defense. There are some things worse than avoiding all casualties in warfare. One of those things is abandoning the core meaning of what a country and a civilization stand for. If America does not stand against the torture of individuals seized without due process by an unchecked executive power, then America stands for nothing. In fact, if this standard had applied two centuries ago, America would not exist at all. The president takes an oath not to prevent any American life from being lost in wartime, but to protect and defend the Constitution which is the sole guarantor of such liberty.
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