Why is torture never justified in order to protect national security?
There will be many answers to this, so be prepared to sift through what you consider to be good, true, and valuable. The first reason why torture should not be used to justify national security would be that it lessens a nature’s moral stature. When a nation presumes to stand against lawlessness, disorder, and barbaric cruelty, it loses credibility when it tortures for it does the same thing it criticizes in others. Whether one calls it “enhanced interrogation” or not, actions such as water boarding or sleep deprivation or humiliating a suspect in a demonstrative manner reduces the moral stature of the nation engaging in such actions. In this light and from a moral standpoint, there is little difference in behavior between statesmen and barbarians. This actually increases resentment, as it creates a rallying point for other individuals who see their brethren degraded on a large scale at the hands of a specific nation. Another reason why torture cannot be considered reliable is that the
