Torture and Political Morality

Abstract

Less than two months after the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, Jonathan Alter wrote a Newsweek column titled ‘Time to Think about Torture’.² Although it was initially greeted with a good deal of shocked indignation, it has become painfully clear that for many Americans — and particularly for those in power — it has been a time to think about torture. Within a few months of 9/11, a series of high-level memoranda were produced within the US executive branch which addressed the treatment of Taliban and al-Qaeda detainees and the constraints that should be observed in interrogating them. Subsequent memoranda were devoted to ‘precising’ the notion of torture and interpreting international conventions in a way that would provide American interrogators with maximum flexibility in their attempts to gain terror-related intelligence.³ Early efforts to gain salient information were said to have been unsuccessful. It was time for the ‘gloves to come off’.⁴

The United States is committed to the worldwide elimination of torture and we are leading this fight by example.¹