From the BBC:
The outgoing head of the US Department of Homeland Security has said torture may be used in certain cases in order to prevent a major loss of life.
Speaking to the BBC, Tom Ridge said the US did not condone the use of torture to extract information from terrorists.
But he said that "under an extreme set of circumstances" such as the threat of a nuclear attack, "it could happen".
Speaking for myself, I do not agree with that. Virtually every expert will tell you that the information that comes from the use of torture is unreliable. The victim will more often then not tell the interrogator what he/she wants to hear. I’m not talking about minor things, like sleep deprivation, barking dogs, naked pyramids (or the other humiliation techniques, which are unreliable, as well.) I am talking about burning, cutting, the rack, etc. Why not just use chemical means to extract the information?
