I am really curious about this. I don’t get it. It is evil. Why are so many Americans eager to torture people? Why do so many Americans speak of people in the Islamic world with terms such as “savage beasts,” “cockroaches,” and “animals?” What has happened to America’s sense of decency?

Evan Thomas of Newsweek writes a web exclusive called Does Torture Really Work? I quote from his article:

It’s probably not too farfetched to say that what most Americans know about torture comes from watching the TV show “24.” (There is even a Web site called The Jack Bauer Torture Report.) Jack and his comrades and enemies have at various moments on the Fox television program used electrical wires, heart defibrillators, old-fashioned bone breaking and chemical injections to wrest information from their captives. In one episode, Agent Bauer forced a terrorist to watch streaming video—staged—of his child’s execution. The terrorist talked.

In recent interviews with NEWSWEEK reporters, U.S. intelligence officers say they have little—if any—evidence that useful intelligence has been obtained using techniques generally understood to be torture. It is clear, for instance, that Al Qaeda operations chief Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (KSM) was subjected to harsh interrogation techniques, including waterboarding. His interrogators even threatened, à la Jack Bauer, to go after his family. (KSM reportedly shrugged off the threat to his family—he would meet them in heaven, he said.) KSM did reveal some names and plots. But they haven’t panned out as all that threatening: one such plot was a plan by an Al Qaeda operative to cut down the Brooklyn Bridge—with a blow torch. Intelligence officials could never be sure if KSM was holding back on more serious threats, or just didn’t know of any.

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The Bush administration has tried another approach to end-run critics: farming out torture. For years, American intelligence handed over prisoners to be interrogated by other security services less squeamish about squeezing information out of suspects. These so-called renditions picked up after 9/11. The very first high-ranking Al Qaeda operative captured—Abu Faraj al-Libbi-was first interrogated by the FBI. But when the FBI wanted to use its normal, go-slow methods, the prisoner was turned over to the CIA—who promptly turned him over to the Egyptians. (NEWSWEEK has reported that as al-Libbi was led to a plane routed for Egypt, a CIA operative whispered in his ear that he planned to “f— your mother”.) Under the no-doubt rough care of the Egyptians, al-Libbi talked of plots and agents. The information was used to make the case for war against Iraq. As recounted in “Hubris,” a new book by NEWSWEEK’s Michael Isikoff and David Corn, there was only one problem: al-Libbi later recanted, saying that he had lied to stop the torture.

So the intelligence supposedly garnered from torture is questionable at best, and a pure lie at worst. Therefore we can’t torture with the intent of getting actionable intelligence, because it is untrustworthy. There are only two other reasons for torture: vengance and lust. We take out our anger against those who we fear and who we think want to harm us. This will include torture. After all, if he, the enemy, is trying to kill you, why not torture him, right? The only problem is that torture happens AFTER one surrenders to your custody. Therefore the violence against him is not necessary, and simply vengeful and evil.

The second reason is the more troubling one. Lustful. As I’ve been thinking more and more about this unfortunate topic, I can’t help but compare torture to rape. I mean, what is torture for but the forcible extraction of something the victim does not will to give to you. You steal it from him. You rip it out of him. You break his will, subjugating him to the utmost horrors before he capitulates to your excesses. Rape is never about the sex, but rather about the domination of the victim, forcibly taking from the victim that which the victim does not want to give, her will to you. We’re bombarded in our country to torture right on our televisions, inside all our homes. The show “24″ is apparently replete with torture scenes. I have not watched the show. But I have been disappointed with the show “Alias” and its numerous uses of torture on both good and bad characters.

But you know what is the fascinating thing about the torture scenes in “Alias?” The good guys somehow weather the torture and don’t reveal anything, meanwhile, the bad guys tend to cave in to the torture.

The problem for America’s future is that this is not going away. Like most rapists, their lust for the rape continues. I fear for our future…..