Michael Walzer on Torture

As I mentioned, I've jumped on the Walzer bandwagon.  However, there were a couple of essays that raised some serious questions for me.  One "Political Action: The Problem of Dirty Hands", dealt in part with torture.

The following hypothetical is framed: An honest politician pledged to peace in a protracted war wins office.  Among his first decisions is whether or not to torture a suspect that has knowledge of a terrorist attack that will claim the lives of many civilians.  He orders the torture in order to save the lives of the civilians.

Walzer continues, "When he ordered the prisoner tortured, he committed a moral crime and he accepted a moral burden.  Now he is a guilty man.  His willingness to acknowledge and bear (and perhaps to repent and do penance for) his guilt is evidence, and it is the only evidence he can offer us, both that he is not too good for politics and that he is good enough.  If he were a moral man and nothing else, his hands would not be dirty; if he were a politician and nothing else, he would pretend that they were clean."  (Emphasis mine.)

My issue is that Walzer seems to be condoning torture in certain circumstances.  But I think really, he's arguing for an exception that proves a rule.  Really, though, he argues for something more than that.  That is, that it is important that we, as a society that aspires to morality, condemn torture in all circumstances, but that in practice it might be necessary to torture . . . but that the condemnation still stands.

This is what angers me most about the Bush officials that Obama has refused so far to target for prosecution.  Either they have lied and dissembled about the fact that it was torture.  Or they have defended themselves (a la Cheney) and argued that it was a good thing - that they had a moral obligation to torture, or even worse, that the ends justified the means.

Walzer does not buy that the ends justify the means.  Nothing justifies torture, fearless reader . . . but sometimes it may be necessary to do anyway and the politician should take responsibility and acknowledge it's wrongness.  The fact that Cheney feels good about the use of torture is extraordinarily disturbing.