In his morning's SF Comical, Wonks Anonymous notes that erstwhile libertarian conservative, Debra J Saunders, has discovered that we need to make a "difficult choice" between "security and our ideals".

Which is to say that she has been converted by the assertions of Dick Cheney that torture works. She would like us to let our betters undertake the complex cost benefit analysis: How much is the sanity and dignity of one person worth and what is the expected information value from a particular suspect?

And of course, if we are talking about torture, we should also open the possibility of arbitrary arrest and detention. And, if we are thinking in those terms, we might want to think about arresting the loved ones and friends of suspected terrorists.

Under Stalin the Soviet Union had a highly effective strategy for dealing with saboteurs and terrorists which strategy is described by Solzhenitsyn in his Gulag Archipelago. I am sure that Ms Saunders will claim to have read this book.

And of course, if one were to ask Ms Saunders about human rights in Cuba, excluding the democratic, capitalist reeducation and detention facility at Guantanamo, she would be prepared to speak at length about human rights violations, including arbitrary imprisonment and harsh interrogation methods.

Please note that Cuba has been to target of terrorist attacks funded and instigated by the United States. Not that Wonks Anonymous finds this to be an excuse for human rights violations.

Wonks Anonymous is always struck by the ability of people on all sides of this debate to justify the crimes of their side by the obvious righteousness of their ideas and their projects for human betterment. We feel that we are justified, not by our actions, but by our beliefs. If we are of the right creed then we are saved regardless of what we do.

We can do better than that.