Torture- Never, or sometimes?

[Lief Erikson]

Originally Posted by BBC News

Danielle Pletka is a vice-president of the American Enterprise Institute, a think-tank in tune with the politics of the Bush administration.

"I'm not a big fan of torture. Unfortunately, there are times in war when it is necessary to do things in a way that is absolutely and completely abhorrent to most good, decent people," she told the BBC.

"I don't want to say that the United States has engaged routinely in such practices, because I don't think that it is routine by any standard.

"But that said, if it is absolutely imperative to find something out at that moment, then it is imperative to find something out at that moment, and Club Med is not the place to do it."

Whether or not the US is involved in torture is not the point of this thread. The practices of other countries are not either. This thread is about the ethics of torture. Obviously, there is the practical aspect that torture often provides bad information. But what about the ethics? If, in a situation such as Danielle Pletka raised, where information is needed now and the lives of innocent people are at stake, should the use of torture be permitted?