Speaking For the McCain Amendment

This is from the Belgravia Dispatch.

The arguments are convincing on the legalistic points of the amendment. There are a few problems that I don't agree with the stand taken.

God forbid, should there be a major terror attack that kills tens of thousands, we will see a chorus of complaints that Saint McCain helped spur on the massacre because of his too coddling approach to detainees. This is bunk. As McCain has said, if there is a real ticking time bomb scenario, the gloves will come off, but the interrogator will be responsible for his actions. In the meantime, we go forward preserving decades-long best practices that military officers have supported through myriad crises. They support it not least because they realize that they have been able to garner effective intelligence via the methods authorized in the manual, and because they further realize to muddy the waters with carve-outs and exceptions will lead to abuses—abuses that taint the repute of our armed forces and make it likelier that their men in the field will be tortured in turn.

First, the contention that the gloves could come off in the ticking time bomb scenario ignores that the when the gloves come off, the law is still being broken and those doing the "torture" are still sanctionable in this legalistic aproach. They could save thousands of citizens lives by making a detainee uncomfortable, and see major jail time for it. I totally disagree with the contention that making some exceptions will necessarily lead to abuse. The complete lack of exceptions will ensure the loss of life of citizens. I suppose this could be called moral relativism, but I'd rather have some scum bag water boarded than have my friends and family dead.

I do agree that the law itself will not "spur on massacre." That makes no sense at all.

It appears to me that too much of the hand wringing we have seen on the topic concerns our moral authority. Moral authority is a wonderful way of patting yourself on the back. There appears to be a great lack of understanding that the people that we are presently fighting don't give a damn about our morals. The argument is almost as weak as the argument that not torturing will protect our military personnel. Moral authority only stands with those that hold similar moral views as we do.

Have a look at the entry. I admit, it did move me more to believing in the McCain amendment, but with some very realistic reservations on what we risk from taking such a position.