I was struck with the fact that this piece on torture comes from Pat Buchanan’s site. Buchanan is a bit of a schizophrenic on torture, and on a number of other questions actually. Used to follow him closely but stopped after I read an article of his within the last six months which gave a thumbs up to the so-called ticking bomb scenario. But this kind of inconsistency is just typical of Buchanan. He’s railed against the war in Iraq for as long as its been going on yet endorsed and voted for Bush in 2004! Buchanan makes much of his Catholicism but it would be hard to identify much authentic Catholicism in his attitudes on torture. And here he flip flops yet again showcasing this piece on the gentle means our ruling class chooses to make the world safe for Israel.

Thanks for the Buiter link – for me he’s a bit convoluted in places, but IMO his weak conclusion is nicely refuted by some of the comments.