Torture-- Let's Get Real

[Xiahou]

Perhaps you could, instead, elaborate on why torture would result in better information than information through trust and popularity, which would also have the positive effect of the enemy combattants stopping to fight. As you seem so certain of your standpoint, you must, surely, have some very good arguments that support that torture would be such a useful weapon in this war.

Sorry, that's just comical.... we capture Zarqawi and he says "You know what? Since you guys are so popular and trustworthy, I'm just going to tell you everything I know!"
In fact, I probably shouldnt even have said "captured" surely, he would've just turned himself in to an enemy that was popular and trustworth.

Think of all the lives that could've been saved in WW2- the Japanese probably just bombed Pearl Harbor because the US wasnt popular enough.

Do you know what the average Shiite would do to Saddam if they were given 5 minutes alone with him? Do you think they care if we're mean to some bigshot terrorist leader who's been blowing up their policemen? Your entire argument is fallacious. As I've said, no one is seriously advocating the rounding up of Iraqis off the street and sticking them with cattle prods until one of them tells us something. What we're discussing is what to do with high-value terrorists that we're able to capture to get them to give us actionable intel on their organization.