Even a necessary evil is evil
Some people see violence as an absolute wrong. Others see it as a sometimes necessary evil, with considerable variation as to just how often these times come up. I’m at the dovish end of the latter group: I believe that there are times—not many, not remotely as many as American foreign policy consensus or law enforcement norms would have it, but some times—when a violent action might be the least-bad available option.
But a necessary evil isn’t a virtue; “least bad” doesn’t mean “good.” And it’s alarming when people articulate a view of violence as not just a regrettable means to an end but essentially the good and right thing to do.
Former vice president Dick Cheney went on Meet the Press Sunday to talk about the Senate torture report. To no one’s surprise, Cheney remains hawkish on interrogation. To the possible surprise of those who believe that words have meanings, he maintains not only that the CIA program wasn’t torture because the Bush administration said it wasn’t but also that it wasn’t torture because 9/11 was worse—as if “torture” refers to “really bad violence” rather than to a particular set of violent techniques captors use to break down captives. Juliet Lapidos has more:
