More Cheers for Torture

        Early last month wsn posted John Gray's eloquent Swiftian satire
on the liberal case for torture, "A Modest Proposal," which took as its
point of departure recent remarks by Alan Dershowitz.  Torture to extract
information from suspects was not unconstitutional, said Dershowitz.

        Having great faith in the deep-seated hypocrisy of most American
politicians and enforcers of the law, I had great difficulty believing
that a public figure like Alan Dershowitz would openly endorse torture.
But after all, since 9/11 is the greatest event in world history so far,
why would it not lead even American public figures to unmask themselves
and begin preaching what they practice?

        Apparently, their preaching has started to work.  Today's (March
3) "QuickVote" on the internet news magazine CNN.com asked, "Is torture
ever justified in coercing information from suspects?"

        For those of you not familiar with "QuickVote," it's a completely
unscientific daily poll on a current issue, with every viewer invited to
cast his/her ballot.  In past months, I have noticed that the results
obtained are usually fairly close to those obtained by serious pollsters,
despite the crudeness of the methods involved.

        So of course I expected a 90% "no" vote on the legitimacy of
torture.  After all, it wasn't just suspected Al Quaeda terrorists or
suspected godless Communists that might be tortured, but anybody detained
on any charge at all.

        Wrong!  65% of respondents voted "yes" to torture.

        Warren