Washington Post: Government Considering Torturing Terror Susp ects

[Lynne Henderson]

I am unclear what you are saying here Eugene.  Torture is *never*
appropriate and violates not only our Constitution but also International
law , the law of war, and treaties.  I don't care how "compelling" you say
the interest is.   the use of sodium pentathol is perhaps another question,
but even that raises serious constitutional and human rights concerns.
Lynne


At 09:25 AM 10/21/2001 -0700, you wrote:

>         This is a fascinating question, but let me suggest it is composed
> of three subissues:
>
>         (1)  Physical torture, from beatings to worse.
>
>         (2)  The administration of drugs, such as sodium pentothal, that
> apparently diminish people's mental control over their speech.
>
>         (3)  Threats to innocent family members.
>
>         My sense is that, troubling as 1 and 2 might be, the most
> troubling is item 3, because it involves intentional harm to people who
> may well be completely innocent, and harm flowing solely because of their
> relationship to the suspect.  I'm certainly not wild about torture or
> even drugging, but if someone is pretty clearly guilty and the time bomb
> is ticking, the case for 1 and 2 becomes pretty strong.  But 3 crosses
> such a dangerous line that I think it would have to take a lot before we
> started to do that.
>
>         Eugene
>-----Original Message-----  From:   David Bernstein
>[SMTP:Deliotb at AOL.COM]  Sent:   Saturday, October 20, 2001 8:26
>PM  To:     CONLAWPROF at listserv.ucla.edu  Subject:        Washington Post:
>Government Considering Torturing Terror Suspects
>
><http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27748-2001Oct20.html>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27748-2001Oct20.html
>
>
>
>David E. Bernstein Associate Professor George Mason University School of
>Law (703) 993-8089 Home Page:
><http://mason.gmu.edu/~dbernste>http://mason.gmu.edu/~dbernste Only One
>Place of Redress Home Page:
><http://mason.gmu.edu/~dbernste/Redress.html>http://mason.gmu.edu/~dbernste/Redress.html
>

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