TW: I believe torture is not only morally reprehensible but also an ineffective means by which to obtain information. The use of torture since 9/11 at the behest of the Bush Administration is one of its (many) worst legacies.
In the show "24" Jack Bauer regularly confronts impossibly convoluted yet morally simple situations where operating outside normal moral and governmental constraints becomes desirable. But it is neither real nor even close to real. I like the show "24" as a show not as a model for life. Apparently the Bush Administration has been unable to differentiate so clearly.
From Newsweek Lithwick:
"The most influential legal thinker in the development of modern American interrogation policy is not a behavioral psychologist, international lawyer or counterinsurgency expert... it quickly becomes plain that the prime mover of American interrogation doctrine is none other than...television's "24," Jack Bauer...the lawyers designing interrogation techniques cited Bauer more frequently than the Constitution...If you're a fan of "24," you'll enjoy "The Dark Side." There you will meet Mamdouh Habib, an Australian, captured in Pakistan, abused by American interrogators with an electric cattle prod and threatened with rape by dogs. He confessed to all sorts of things that weren't true. He was released after three years without charges. Jack Bauer would have known inside of 10 minutes he was not a ticking time bomb. Our real-life heroes tortured him for years before realizing he was innocent"
http://www.newsweek.com/id/149009
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