Why I Love Keith Olbermann

This commentary on waterboarding, introducing me to the case of Daniel Levin, is a perfect example of why I love Keith Olbermann.



And he’s a member of SABR, as well.

(P.S. I do think Olbermann’s slightly too dismissive of the possibility of torture yielding accurate information, but he’s entirely right in that there is no guarantee that it will and torture instead will very likely yield whatever “information” the prisoner believes his interrogators want to hear.

The further problem with torture is it that not only is it morally reprehensible, but it’s impossible to have a true ticking bomb scenario in real life. I could see a strong argument for the necessity of torture in that instance, but there is never going to be an incident where you have a prisoner who can reveal time-sensitive information that will save thousands or millions or lives and which can’t be gathered by any other method and which you know will be entirely accurate when he reveals it.

All of those criteria would likely have to be met for me to consider agreeing that torture might be ethical, and I probably would agree it would be in that specific scenario, but it will never happen. Olbermann is perhaps slightly over the top in his attacks on Bush, but not by much at all.)