Professor Jeremy Waldron writes to The Guardian on torture and the death of Osama bin Laden
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Jeremy Waldron has had a letter published in The Guardian (5th May) on the connection between the form of suspect interrogation known as waterboarding and the killing of Osama bin Laden.
He writes, It is not essential to the case against torture that torture is ineffective; the case against torture is that it is prohibited legally and morally as an abomination, whether it yields useful information or not. Second, even if former vice-president Dick Cheney and Professor John Yoo are right about the effectiveness of waterboarding in this instance, their claim should be understood for what it is: that the unlawful use of torture helped facilitate the unlawful use of death squads. It is no justification for the commission of one crime (torture) that it helps facilitate the commission of another crime (assassination), even when those crimes are committed against people who are themselves dangerous criminals.
