Torture Apologists Enter “How Were We Supposed to Know?” Phase of History

“Dunking” is not waterboarding. And even if it is, it’s not simulated drowning. And even if it is simulated drowning, it’s not torture. And even if it is torture, it’s not like we are doing it a lot. And even if we are doing it 183 times to somebody, it’s not like they are a citizen with rights.

Because, you know, if you give Caesar the power to torture people, he will *never* use that power against his own citizens, just against foreign bad guys and stuff.

Next phase of torture apologetics: “And even if he *does* use it against citizens, they are bad guys and deserve it. In fact, think how much money we save by going straight from the investigation to the punishment phase without all the trouble of ascertaining guilt, trying, convicting and sentencing!”

I actually had somebody in a combox on Inside Catholic tell me that it was *selfish* for me, as a Christian, to warn that Caesar could, you know, wind up turning the instruments of torture against Christians in a not too remote future since we are (as Tiller’s murder shows) increasingly perceived as a foreign menace to the culture of death. He said it should be our patriotic duty to allow ourselves to be tortured in innocence lest terrorists *not* be tortured.

The Rubber Hose Right is absolutely insane. And the Religious Rubber Hose Right is even more insane because they should know better.