Torture and Eliot Ness

The Washington Post wrote on Saturday:

The tactics -- which one official described Friday as a threatened execution -- were used on Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, according to the CIA's inspector general's report on the agency's interrogation program. Nashiri, who was captured in November 2002 and held for four years in one of the CIA's "black site" prisons, ultimately became one of three al-Qaeda chieftains subjected to a form of simulated drowning known as waterboarding. The report also says that a mock execution was staged in a room next to one terrorism suspect, according to Newsweek magazine, citing two sources for its information.

After reading this article, I thought of the interrogation scene from the movie The Untouchables, where Sean Connery's character "Malone" stages a mock execution, a Canadian Mountie expresses his disapproval, and Eliot Ness, despite the fact that he is obviously uncomfortable with the harsh tactics, comes to Malone's defense. (Watch the first two minutes of the link below).



I've watched this movie several dozen times, and never once thought that Malone was torturing the Capone gang member. Regardless of whether it is torture or it isn't, one thing is certain: I want Malone, and guys like him, on my side.

And wouldn't it be nice if the administration acted a lot less like that Canadian Mountie and little bit more like Eliot Ness?