FC: Alan Dershowitz suggests judges could issue "torture warrants"

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

See also:

"FBI wants to cast aside civil liberties, torture mentioned"
http://www.politechbot.com/p-02684.html

"The Objectivist Center applauds national IDs, torture, snooping?"
http://www.politechbot.com/p-02709.html

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From: "Robert Helmer" <roberthelmer () earthlink net>
To: "Declan McCullagh" <declan () well com>
Subject: Dershowitz and Torture Warrants
Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2001 11:00:42 -0600

Declan, a few weeks ago on Cyberia I posted a satiric comment about the 
government seeking the power to issue torture warrants against terrorist 
suspects -- To my surprise, some took the posting seriously. And now, guess 
what? Speaking in St. Louis yesterday, Alan Dershowitz seems to have come 
out in favor of it. The Post-Dispatch reports the following in today's edition:

"Even torture may not be off the table as an information-gathering tool, 
Dershowitz said. But there must be a national debate about the 
circumstances in which torture is permissible and who should have the power 
to decide when to use it. Dershowitz suggested that judges could issue 
torture warrants in certain cases."

<http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/news/D2614FEED949540D86256AFB0043EB5B?OpenDocument&highlight=2%2Cdershowitz?opendocument&headline=U.S.+now+might+have+to+consider+what+once+was+unthinkable,+Dershowitz+says>http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/news/D2614FEED949540D86256AFB0043EB5B?OpenDocument&highlight=2%2Cdershowitz?opendocument&headline=U.S.+now+might+have+to+consider+what+once+was+unthinkable,+Dershowitz+says

What's interesting is that, besides the wholly unconstitutional nature of 
torture, no one seems to consider its complete lack of effectiveness as an 
information gathering tool, since the nature of the duress it causes will 
prompt the suspect to say anything he thinks the torturers want to hear.... 
Witness the Inquisition, where suspects routinely implicated every possible 
innocent bystander to simply meet the torturers' quota of truth....

Thanks,

Bob Helmer
Daily Rotation
<http://www.dailyrotation.com>http://www.dailyrotation.com
Shell Extension City
<http://www.shellcity.net>http://www.shellcity.net
St. Louis, Missouri

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