re: #312 SteveMcGaziBolaGate

It is inevitable in the sense that (as he stated in the paper, if you read it), most law enforcement officials he has spoken to would approve the use of torture in a “ticking time bomb” scenario. That means that torture will happen, thus my use of the word inevitable. Dershowitz argues that if officials realize that they have to get a warrant, they will have to make a case that they have enough to justify that a ticking time bomb case actually exists, and that supervision will result in the moderation of torture.
You can debate the arguments about whether the use of warrants would have an inhibiting effect, but I do not think that puts him on the same team as John Yoo.

There is no fucking ticking time bomb scenario. And yes, he was attempting to provide some deodorizing cover for people like Yoo. He was saying, “here’s how we do torture right.” I’m saying there is no right way to do torture. The time bomb scenario is the thin edge of an incredibly horrible, intellectually rotten and cancerous wedge. The entire line of reasoning is both morally and logically bankrupt, it’s designed to get people to think about torture in a context where it is pre-defined as legitimate. That context however is antithetical to actual reality.

That’s what I mean by fantasy, that shit never actually happens outside of fictional settings.