It turns out that there was near unanimity in the Department of Justice that so-called harsh interrogation techniques (such as waterboarding) were permitted by law. This goes against the progressive narrative that some or many Justice Department attorneys believed the techniques to be illegal. If the techniques are legal, then the only question is whether they are effective. Morality doesn't enter into it. And even if it does, reasonable people can and do disagree about what morality requires or permits. Progressives tend to believe that torture (assuming, for the sake of argument, that the techniques in question constitute torture) is wrong, whatever the consequences. Many of us believe that torture is intrinsically but not absolutely wrong. Sometimes it is wrong not to torture.
Torture
–––––––
