Sunday, November 05, 2006

The historical logic of torture?

I think it's actually wrong to say that the recent efforts to abolish the right of habeas corpus and to legalize torture are driven by fear; that would be more understandable. What's more frightening is the idea that the people who propose these policies believe there is some kind of historical logic that justifies them. Once you start down that road, you can justify anything.
Joshua Foa Dienstag

I'm unclear what historical logic Dienstag has in mind. The optimistic logic of happy talk? I've focused almost entirely on fear as an explanation of pro-torture, anti-habeas corpus policy. I haven't seen democratization or "anti-islamofascist" sentiment per se invoked to justify such action.

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