US forces recently captured a top al Qaeda operative named Abu Zubaydah. Without question, this man has information that would be useful to us. A friend of mine recently sent me a couple of emails implying that it might be morally acceptable, under strictly defined circumstances, to use torture to get information out of him. Call me a bleeding heart if you want, but...

I'd be genuinely ashamed of my country if we stooped to that, under almost any circumstances. On the other hand, it did occur to me that there's little "t" torture and big "T" Torture. What do I mean?

Well, big "T" torture involves doing things like ripping off someone's fingernails, applying electric shock to the genitals, beatings, or even beating, raping, or killing the family members of your victim. Whatever it takes to break his will. To this sort of thing I simply say: No, we do not do such things in America. No, no, no, no, no and, simply: no.

On the other hand, who could object to the use of, say, sleep deprivation techniques, lousy food, or other less-than-inhuman means to break someone's will? In a recent National Public Radio spot, an interesting method of behavior modification used in a Maryland prison was explored. It is both humane and and yet quite effective for attitude adjustment purposes. It's an amusing article, and worth thinking about when we contemplate how exactly we treat our war prisoners.