Re: liberals and torture

In a message dated 2/13/2003 12:29:58 PM Eastern Standard Time, ergin.yildizoglu@blueyonder.co.uk writes:

> Using impeccable scholarship and the most rigorous logic, the distinguished
> Harvard legal scholar has demonstrated that nothing in the US Constitution
> forbids the use of torture. In interviews with the American media,
> Dershowitz has noted that while the Fifth Amendment prohibits
> self-incrimination, that means only that statements elicited by torture
> cannot be used as evidence against the person who has been tortured. It does
> not prohibit torture itself. Neither does the Eighth Amendment, since the
> ban on "cruel and unusual punishments" applies only after an individual has
> been convicted. The belief that torture is unconstitutional in America may
> be widespread, but it is a fallacy - the product of rudimentary errors in
> legal reasoning.


The problem with this is that lawyers are smart idiots, and societies function on more than  law. One has to wonder why Dershowitz had to produce this dangerous nonsense. Osama Bin Laden's sorry victory
John Landon
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