A couple of Australian academics have written a paper arguing that torture is a 'morally defensible' interrogation method. This subject was taken up on various blogging luminaries' sites, so the Sty's comments will be limited to this ....
There is never any justification for torture.
It's becoming an increasingly old fashioned sentiment, but reducing ourselves to the level of the people we are opposing in the 'war' on terror demeans our stand against tyranny. I means we become no better than those we oppose, and gives them an excuse to perform similar abuses.
The academics in question have every right to raise the subject, and fair minded people have every right to reject it.
I think the revelations of torture and killing of Afghani suspects by the US is fairly poignant at this time. Who are the bad guys?
I recall there were many years of human rights violations against women in the middle east/africa but it was not deemed important enough to do anything about, by most of the western world.
I wonder when human rights violations will be considered important by the countries who have signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?
I also wonder about the propriety of widespread acceptance of patriarchal religions which promote torture of women to keep them subservient through stonings and genital mutilation, etc., amongst endless other means of abuse justified towards women.
That serial and ritual torture is seldom confronted in such a public manner compared to this recent fuss caused by that lecturer over interrogative torturing of terror suspects by enemy countries.