This is one of those things I was surprised I haven't written about it before. Torture isn't on the front page right now, but this speaks to something bigger.
When is it right to break the law?
I can think of a lot of scenerios where I would root for a law breaker. But my personal feelings should not be the basis for when to apply the "rule of law". Oh now I need to explain that...
"The Rule of Law" is the idea that we must enforce the law even if it is wrong because once we stop enforcing the law it will be anarchy. I would agree but most of the time the phrase is being used selectively. Law enforcement tends to focus on petty infractions of the masses instead of reigning abuses of power. Republican politicians care an awful lot about the rule of law when it comes to immigration but not on torture or due process.
Let's focus on torture because it is something I have a different opinion on than most.
My grandfather was in WWII and he successfully tortured a man while other soldiers were having Germans surrender to them because we don't torture. I'm not sure what my grandfather did but he felt badly about it late into his life.
As I remember the story the position of my grandfather's camp kept being discovered after they would move (My grandfather was a grunt but because he spoke Polish a lot of his stories have an intelligence aspect). The unit captured a German and learned by torturing him that the British soldiers were giving away the position of the camp because they were breaking the no fire rule to make tea. They made a new rule to shoot at fire even if it was from within the camp.
My take on this story isn't that torture works. I think it worked because the prisoner thought my grandfather was crazy. You've heard of good cop bad cop? American soldiers had a reputation for being good so it must have freaked this guy out to be treated like that. Black was white, water was dry...an American tortured was torturing him.
Does this mean I support torture as long as it isn't "Official Policy"? Absolutely not. When the law is enforced with a nudge and a wink word gets out pretty quickly, especially today. It doesn't matter whether torture CAN work or not. We need to prosecute it.
We think of our soldiers, police, and firemen as heroes because they are willing to sacrifice their lives for the rest of us but it is unthinkable that they should go to jail. As a society we must prosecute law breakers, even when we agree with them.
If you are so sure torturing someone will stop a terrorist plot- be ready to go to jail for it. It's a risk-benefit calculation you'll have to make just like many Occupy protesters have made. And most notably Bradly Manning.
Manning is the soldier thought to have been behind a Wikileak. The leaked information included video of US soldiers firing at journalists in Iraq. This information was clearly leaked because it's wrong. And the person behind it felt strongly enough about it to risk his/her career and worse.
Manning has definitely faced the worse. He hasn't had a trial. He's kept in isolation and basically being treated like a terror suspect in Gitmo. This is where ignoring the rule of law gets you. The government breaking the law but in such small increments that it just becomes normal.
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