DOMESTIC CONSUMPTION. Hilzoy points to another in the endless series of empirical studies and professional testimonials indicating that torture is useless for the purpose of intelligence-driven interrogation. There's no value trade-off here; torture is both bad and useless. So why do Republican presidential candidates have such a hard time condemning the practice? Torture is domestic Green Lanternism. Foreign policy resolve is normally invoked as a value because a perception of strength changes the behavior of foreign countries. If the Chinese understand that we're tough, the story goes, then they won't mess with us. But torture doesn't really have that foreign policy effect. Nations that don't torture are appalled by the fact that we do, and nations that do torture aren't notably impressed that we've joined the club. Indeed, torture has only negative foreign policy effects. Domestically, however, torture conveys the appearance of will. Support of torture signals to a politician's base the will to do grievous harm to some random person in order to preserve a sense of security. Apparently, some significant portion of the U.S. electorate finds this willingness impressive. Until that changes, questions of effectiveness are simply moot. -- Robert Farley
