Torture

I have made light of the administration's bizarre "pro-torture" stance, but very simply and very seriously, the United States CANNOT be on record as endorsing torture. This is a basic question of credibility before the world. If we embrace such barbarism, we lose any right to object when our enemies act (or react) in a similar fashion. This is the same point that lies at the heart of compliance with international law in general. When a nation has a tradition of compliance, it has standing to object to violations by other countries. When a country gives international law little weight or respect, its claims against others reek of hypocrisy and are far from persuasive.