Torture

It's not very convincing to see Joseph Farah cite Jack Bauer in his defense of coercive interrogations. Bauer after all is a fictional character and 24 is entertainment. The ticking time bomb situation is extremely rare in real-life but it seems to be the norm in every episode of 24. However, there is a legitimate point here. In the aftermath of 9/11, it is totally understandable that the US government would try any means to get information about another terrorist attack. It's extremely easy for bloggers and commentators to denounce anti-terrorist officials as torturers. These commentators were not responsible for safeguarding the nation. Anyone who had Khalid Sheik Mohammed in custody would be out of their minds if they didn't at least consider using some form of coercion to get information out of him. Perhaps the tactics used during that time were the wrong ones but to denounce them as "absolute evil" seems absurd to me. Who wouldn't take extreme measures against members of al-Qaeda after living through September 11?