Stupid Hypothetical on Torture

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[Libitina72]

Torture can lead to someone telling you what you WANT to hear...not necessarily the truth...

[ogjimkenobi]

Man, I can't believe I just heard one of our public officials respond to the politics of fear by combating it with calm, sensible, logic.

It's been awhile.

[autoyota]

Great , so Hypotheticaly U can accept torture to get info, so Hypotheticaly U are willing to authorize torture? and Hypotheticaly accept the punishment of authorizing such torture?

The hypocrasy is so rampant!! My answer would have been"would you?"

[dafedge2007]

@JermzzzyFTW Actually, you're coming off as naive assuming there was ever such a thing as a ticking time bomb scenario, and that under this scenario torture would be more effective. If you knew that there was a limited amount of time you had to hold out, and that you could do it by feeding false information, why the hell would anyone think that this would work in that example? Say it's 2 days until the bomb explodes. You feed a lie, you buy yourself a couple of hours while they check it. Repeat

[dafedge2007]

@strakha0 You don't need an hour. It took 5 seconds for Christopher Hitchens to change his opinion on Waterboarding.

[JermzzzyFTW]

Holder talks about alternative methods like there is an expansive list of measures that could be done instead of waterboarding- bribery? Psychological interrogation? Sleep deprivation? Not only would those be inefffective against an extremist, they would take incredibly long amounts of time. Holder comes off as very naive- in a ticking time bomb scenario we can't afford to hold onto childish ideals, when thousands of lives are at stake.

[JPStrikesBack]

Statements made under torture can be evaluated for truthfulness. This is done by asking the subject questions you already know the answer to. The US Criminal code, 18 USC 2340 and 2340A do NOT make it a crime to torture those who themselves do not follow the Geneva Conventions. Geneva ENCOURAGES the torture of those who do not follow the law of war. IF they don't follow it themselves, they cannot claim its protection.

[mekongyouwrong]

What a moron. His 'hypothetical' is an absurd cartoon. Is this asshole really that fucking stupid? YES, he's a republican senator! Goddamn idiots are the best we can do? God help us.

[strakha0]

"I'll put it to you this way: You give me a waterboard, Dick Cheney and one hour, and I'll have him confess to the Sharon Tate murders." - Jesse Ventura.

Give me a waterboard, Sen. John Cornyn and one hour, and I'll change his mind about torture ;)

As for the issue of abortion which some people are trying to bring into here, that's completely separate to this, and you're oversimplifying an issue which is far less black and white as torture. Leave that for a different video.

[XSC3]

@Alecal89 torture advocates claim "that actually happens/will happen" too. hypotheticals can be used to justify just about anything. anyway, if we allowed abortion ONLY in the cases of fathers who raped their underage daughters, there would be very few abortions. as is, abortion is easier than a no fault divorce, and accounts for 45% of pregnancies in the US

[XSC3]

I don't approve of torture OR abortion, that's the thing. I'm comparing the one stupid hypothetical to the other stupid hypothetical. They're both stupid, and designed to make an emotional appeal to a person to compromise their principles and make them look stupid and/or uncaring in an interview.

[XSC3]

@garytcw don't be dense.

If I said "would you approve torture if it were a scenario were a terrorist knew the location of the hidden dirty nuke in a major US city" and then if you said "yes" I said "HA, you approve torture" would that be fair? Hence, it's not fair to ask this question. In any case, a child of an incestuous rape is no different than a child conceived in a loving, upper class home. If anything they need more compassion, not the death penalty