The Republican establishment really likes torture. Really realy likes torture
As Jesse Taylor over at Pandagon explains:
It’s disturbing to hear the axis of Kristol, Krauthammer and Hume (who’s a “journalist”, although he’s always replaced by a conservative when he’s not on the panel, for some reason) talk about torture, because they really, really want to stick something scalding hot up someone’s clenched something, and they’re just trying to get all these morally facile “anti-torture” idiots to come to the conclusion that there is a situation in which torture might be okay…which, for some reason, will devolve downwards into the conclusion that torture is okay when used in other situations. It’s an inane argument – I could, for instance, come up with an utterly contrived thriller-esque situation wherein I must expose myself to a room full of children in order to save lives, but if I’m seriously pushing it, the underlying argument isn’t about saving lives. It’s about wanting kids to see my naughty bits.
In much the same way, the perverse fascination with torture (and the Coulteresque arguments on the right that, well, of course they’re against real torture, but that naked pile of men is barely even mistreatment) isn’t about security, and it isn’t about saving lives. It’s about beating the shit out of some people in a way that makes them feel better about beating the shit out of some people.