Views On Civil Liberties of Terrorist Suspects
In April 2009, Coughlin wrote an article entitled "My advice to Obama: Don't pick a fight with Dick Cheney", which was published on the Daily Telegraph's website. In the article, which followed claims that US forces had waterboarded an Al Qaeda suspect 183 times, Coughlin argued that "There are always two sides to a story, even a deeply unpleasant one such as waterboarding an al-Qaeda suspect", before asking "what if, as Mr Cheney is now suggesting, these brutal interrogation methods actually produced information that saved lives by thwarting potential al-Qaeda attacks?". Coughlin suggested that the problem posed "an interesting ethical dilemma", namely "Are interrogation methods like waterboarding justified if they save lives, or should we respect the detainees' human rights, thereby enabling the terror attacks to take place and claim innocent lives? I know which option I'd go for." Coughlin has persisted in writing articles supporting the use of torture, for example on February 10, 2010 "When the next bomb goes off in London, blame the judges".
Read more about this topic: Con Coughlin
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