The "It Could Be Worse" Defense
posted by Rick at 3:12 PM

An AP report in the Washington Post has Donald Rumsfeld still justifying torture of prisoners by saying worse things have been done by others:

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, responding to allegations that he fostered a climate that led to the prisoner-abuse scandal, said yesterday that the military's mistreatment of detainees was not as bad as what terrorists have done.

"Does it rank up there with chopping someone's head off on television?" he asked. "It doesn't."

I'm waiting for somebody to try that ploy in court. "Yes, your honor, I did kill my wife, but does that rank up there with what Jack the Ripper did to all those women in London? It doesn't."

Would that defense hold up? It wouldn't.