Human rights in a time of terror: at the beginning of a year that brings together the Beijing Olympics and the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, David Ransom assesses the damage done by the 'War on Terror' to the one race that really counts.(KEYNOTE) From: New Internationalist | Date: January 1, 2008| Author: Ransom, David | COPYRIGHT 2008 New Internationalist Magazine. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

If the torture of a single person could save the lives of a thousand others, would it be justified? Difficult to say no'. But that must be said all the same, because torture has never saved anyone from anything; not from a single suicide bomb, not from a single act of terrorism or fate worse than torture itself. So why should anyone be asked to suppose that it might? Who can believe that it does?

Morality and belief may matter, but without knowledge and reason they readi...