It's been a banner week for water-boarding. This centuries-old practice of simulated drowning to extract false confessions and false testimony has really benefited of late from a good old legal reassessment and a smoking-hot PR campaign.

Way to go Dahlia!

Slates queen of the far left barely makes it into the second sentence before condeming the tactic by stating flatly that it doesn't work despite clear testimony (for at least KSM) that it does and did.

Others commenting here have stated the point that our enemies in this war (and make no mistake this IS a war, no matter what Ms. Lithwick chooses to call it) do not take prisoners and subject them to a simulated death by drowning but real death by beheading. Of course that doesn't mean that we should use torture to gain information. No, what the enemy does to prisoners is no justification for this tactic. What the enemy WANTS to do to each and every one of us including you dear Dahlia... Well let's all think about that before we condem limited use of this "centuries old practice".

How do we know when the "war" is over?

Let's try and think of other 'centuries old practice(s)' that the 'enemy WANTS to do to each and every one of us'... what FUN!

-Clitoral circumcision
-Torture and degradation of all women
-De-criminalization of rape
-Honor killings
-Caliphates

Your argument is well posed. I suppose we should authorize 'limited use' of these 'centuries old practice(s)' as well (just in case). Let's add the (occasional) burning of books and destruction of (non-religious) cultural objects, just for some spiciness.

I would suggest that President Obama, on January 20th 2009, by executive order outlaws torture of any kind and firmly suggests than anyone for simulated drowning is free to stop by the Pentagon for a personal demonstration.

If you got up early, ABQGuy, you could be the first in line! WOOT!

Slates queen of the far left barely makes it into the second sentence before condeming the tactic by stating flatly that it doesn't work despite clear testimony (for at least KSM) that it does and did.

Perhaps torture sometimes works. But there are also times where it doesn't, and can lead to disastrous consequences.

Al Qaeda operative Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi was captured and tortured in Egypt, and gave false information that al Qaeda was working with Saddam because he knew that's what the torturers wanted him to say. That information was used by the Bush administration to bolster its case for invading Iraq.http://www.washingtonmont­hly.com/archives/individual/20­05_11/007504.php And now we're in a terrible, terrible mess that has cost thousands of American lives and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives, with no resolution in sight.

Yes, torture can save lives. And it can destroy lives, too. The problem is that it's very, very hard to tell if the information gathered is reliable, and I've seen no evidence that we're good at sorting good information from bad information that someone just wants to hear.