When should torture or other coercive interrogation techniques directed against terrorist suspects be permissible under US law?
Barack Obama: Never. In an Obama Administration, we will reject torture — including so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques” — without equivocation. We should not have a separate interrogation program whose methods are so abhorrent that they cannot stand up to scrutiny. We should not have to find ways of ignoring or averting our own laws to defend our country. Torture does not work. Torture violates our laws. And torture sets back the standing and moral leadership that America needs to triumph in this global struggle. Our values and laws are not inconvenient obstacles to the defense of our national security — they can and must be a guiding force in our response to terrorism. Hillary Clinton: I have said unequivocally that torture cannot be American policy. Period. I believe we have to stand for the rule of law, especially when we are under threat. As we protect ourselves, we have to hold onto our values, and set an example we can point to with pride and not shame around the wor
