YET MORE ON TORTURE: The New Republic—a mixed bag. TNR thinks messing with fingernails and electric shocks won’t work and therefore won’t happen: “But one of the surprising aspects of the ongoing interrogations of Al Qaeda detainees is that the more senior captives–like Abu Zubaydah, or Mohammed’s associate Ramzi Binalshibh–have been remarkably willing to talk. Rather, the problem when it comes to these high-ranking terrorists is what they divulge–typically, an intricate lattice of fact and fiction. In the words of a former FBI official, they ‘mak[e] up stories that are credible enough’ to sow doubt and uncertainty into any investigation.”

But the article also includes this bad, very bad news: “Pakistani authorities seized two of Mohammed’s children, ages seven and nine, in a September raid he narrowly escaped. While the extent to which their safety matters to Mohammed is unclear–the ex-FBI official says he can easily imagine Mohammed wanting his children to become martyrs–Post notes that the parenting instinct has been known to be powerful even among terrorists. If that turns out to be true of Mohammed, interrogators might well be able to generate the kind of leverage they’d normally achieve through physical force simply by threatening the children’s safety.”

TNR says its reporting “suggests we can avoid brutality when interrogating Mohammed and still extract all the information we need.” I think the second quote calls that assessment into question. To put it mildly.

Stuart Taylor–sounds like it’s happening to innocent guys. Necessary reading.

Jane Galt—personal.

Light of Reason—Hannah Arendt.

Junius–is bluffing OK?

Sheep-Free Zone–catechism references but over-optimism. (If it’s obsolete, why does everyone keep using it?)

Thanks, by the way, to everyone who either wrote me personally or alerted me to your posts. I know these response lists are a bit curt but I have pretty much shot my bolt on this topic for the moment, thus I don’t have that much more to say. But I will keep linking for people who want to follow this question.