Ticking ethics.Thank you for Alfred W. McCoy's insightful and nuanced article, "The Myth of the Ticking Time Bomb" (October issue). I'd like to add two cruder points. First, Jack Bauer Jack Bauer is the protagonist of the American television series 24, in which he has trained and worked in various capacities as a government agent, including US Army Delta Force, LAPD SWAT, and finally the Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU) Los Angeles. on 24 has personally tortured at least one wrong person and has murdered at least one witness who was the only lead to a dangerous conspiracy. There are also a fair number of torture victims wandering around from earlier 24 episodes who would be, were 24 realistic, plotting revenge. Sensible people know they can use 24 for guilty pleasure, but not as a model for counterterrorism coun·ter·ter·ror adj. Intended to prevent or counteract terrorism: counterterror measures; counterterror weapons. n. Action or strategy intended to counteract or suppress terrorism. . Far more seriously, the figuratively fig·u·ra·tive adj. 1. a. Based on or making use of figures of speech; metaphorical: figurative language. b. Containing many figures of speech; ornate. 2. ticking bomb argument is simply bullshit bull·shit Vulgar Slang n. 1. Foolish, deceitful, or boastful language. 2. Something worthless, deceptive, or insincere. 3. Insolent talk or behavior. v. in terms of straightforward ethics. If a threat is sufficiently grave that you torture someone, you should be willing to go to prison for the actions you took to meet that threat. What George W. Bush and his cohorts want is routine torture, torture without legal consequence for the torturers. Even Jack Bauer does better than that. He accepts that he can go to jail. Richard D. Erlich Oxford, Ohio Oxford is a college town located in the southwestern portion of the U.S. state of Ohio in northwestern Butler County in Oxford Township, originally called the College Township. The population was 21,943 at the 2000 census (approximately 16,000 students are included in this figure). |
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