BETTER TO DIE LIKE A MAN THAN LIVE LIKE A BEAST: Like Jim Henley, I got pretty depressed reading the various defenses of torture that have been posted in the blogosphere recently. It took me several days to write about this because I needed to collect my thoughts and suppress the gut feeling of rottenness and horror. I know even admitting that will lose me credibility, but hey, I figured you all deserve an explanation for why I am so late to this particular discussion: I couldn’t stomach it before. (Can you? Warning: very graphic description.)

Of the people I read regularly, Radley Balko’s written the most in defense of torture: here, here, here, here, and here. Most of what’s been said against Balko’s position has been the unadorned statement, “Torture is wrong, end of story.” I’m not sure how much more I can add, but I’d like to talk about three things: how torture affects the torturer (and the country that gives him sanction); the swift slide down the slippery slope, illustrated; and the source of human rights. I make no claims that what follows is especially coherent; it’s a series of scattered thoughts, and if I can figure out how to improve on it, I will.