Hey Dick! Even if Torture Prevented an Attack,

[tekisui]

even if it is documented, even if the documents are released---

It doesn't justify or legalize torture.

Of course, I don't believe that any of those 'ifs' exist.

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. Dick doesn't know - after all, his words, "Al Queda was just a relatively unknown group before 911"

Never has a person had such an appropriate first name, dick, indeed.

[Pholus]

2. If it had worked, we'd know.

"State Secrets" be darned, it'd be shouted from the highest rooftop. It's not for information, it's to demonstrate that we're "tough" and shouldn't be messed around with. I just wish the conservatives weren't so one-dimensional in their thinking. It makes it too easy for our enemies to play us.

[Democracyinkind]

3. They do. They just don't wanna tell us.

If they foiled so many grand plots, why did they keep presenting bogus arrests like the Padilla case or the "sleeper cell" cases like they just won a major battle?

Honestly Dick, what need was there to make Padilla and the sleeper cells "terrorists" if you foiled so many grand plots? Some Arab-Americans go to disneyland with a video camera, you arrest them and declare them "terrorists". Why, if you have legitimate cases in your closet?
Americans who buy this one must be politically handicapped.

" Ehm, we foiled some real 9/11-like plots... But we can't tell you. We'll only show you the ones we fabricated"
yeah right.

[Canuckistanian]

4. The rationalization of dictators everywhere- "The ends justify the means"

America has always promoted the idea of "The means are the message" - at least, it used to.

[KharmaTrain]

5. Yep...Fortunately Not Another OKC...

Now had crashcart known about Tim McVeigh's plot, would he have tortured McVeigh, Nichols and others to "keep us safe"? Do I really have to ask?

The fun of living in a world of hypotheticals and absolutes is that you always tag your opponents of beating their wife while you never have to justify your own dirty laundry.

Now were we really that safe? Hasn't the "war on terror" helped destroy the economy, thus meeting one of Al Queda's goals. So you tell me how well that torture worked. And if it does, when do we start stringing up AIG Special Services execs?