What's Wrong with a Little Arm Twisting?

So what's wrong with a little arm twisting, a modicum of humiliation? Those detainees are all bad guys anyway, right?

Read Vladimir Bukovsky's Washington Post article for the answer. Chances are he knows a lot more about the subject than you do: "Torture's Long Shadow." (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/17/AR2005121700018.html)

One nasty morning Comrade Stalin discovered that his favorite pipe was missing. Naturally, he called in his henchman, Lavrenti Beria, and instructed him to find the pipe. A few hours later, Stalin found it in his desk and called off the search. "But, Comrade Stalin," stammered Beria, "five suspects have already confessed to stealing it."

* * *

Update: VP Dick Cheney today informed the press that he wants to return the power of the presidency to the place it was in at the time his former boss, Tricky Dick (I want to destroy American Democracy) Nixon, left it in at the time impeachment charges were brought against him.