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Actually, I'd like to point out that torture, when actually done right, is very effective. Of course when it comes actually doing it, just about everybody screws it up.
So, provided that our government become torturers par excellance, it will be worth it? I hate to introduce the slippery slope argument, but genocide, if done right, say through forcibly moving ethnic communities around to make ethnicly pure areas, might be very effective too, right? But it's still inethical for a host of reasons. Ethics have a place in politics and war, not only for honor but for propaganda value.
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And compared to some other countries, like Argentinia (I think it was that one, or one of the other South American countries, can't remember if the same government is still in power either), we really suck at the whole taking prisoners and torturing them. They unlike us have/had managed to create a virtual prison of fear within thier populace.
You're likely addressing Operation Condor which was a wide reaching reactionary assault against leftism and civil rights throughout South America orchestrated by the CIA and OAS. Chile, Bolivia, Columbia and Nicaragua are just some of the countries that employed torture. I really don't think you can "suck" at something that is decidedly evil though. And all of those regimes have been overthrown, although not nearly with enough violence. In Chile, the wife of one of the Disaparados is now in power, so that shows you how far things have swung. Also, consider the wide majority that leftists have in power in those areas. Could this be from the former governments resorting to indecency?