Hayden and Mukasey's argument:

From their WSJ op-ed:

... public disclosure of the OLC opinions, and thus of the techniques themselves, assures that terrorists are now aware of the absolute limit of what the U.S. government could do to extract information from them, and can supplement their training accordingly ...

In that case, better not sign any treaties governing conduct in war.

And here's a strawman:

... it seems unlikely that the people who beheaded Nicholas Berg and Daniel Pearl, and have tortured and slain other American captives, are likely to be shamed into giving up violence by the news that the U.S. will no longer interrupt the sleep cycle of captured terrorists even to help elicit intelligence that could save the lives of its citizens.

Nobody is making that argument.


posted by Quiddity at 4/17/2009 08:42:00 AM