To save a million people... Thread

Normally, I avoid political, religious or otherwise controversial topics because it's.. well, stupid. Nobody ever wins and you both walk away pissed at how ignorant the other person is. But this is not so much one of those topics as it is a peak into the minds and values that people have today.

I just watched Unthinkable, a movie about a homeland terrorist who has planted three nuclear bombs in three major cities. But the movie itself is not about the bombs, like in the sum of all fears. Instead, it deals more with how far would you go to save the lives of millions? In the movie, the man is tortured and subjected to any form of mental game you can think of. SPOILER! Eventually, even the terrorist's family is involved in the torture.

So I'm curious, if you were in that situation where you had full power to do whatever is necessary, how far would you go to get the information needed?

No holds; Family, friends, torture, anything goes- You would make everyone around him die painfully and make him regret the day he ever did this.

Torture him- You would cause him immense pain and suffering, but the line is drawn with him.

Reason with him, meet his demands, etc- You will do whatever he wants as long as he cooperates. You will talk to him until the last second, but you will not cross the line from communication to violence, no matter how many may die.

so the option's either torture or don't torture?

Yup. Just like in the movie. It's not a scenario where you can throw in 'What ifs' there's only two options for you to make, but how far would you go if you decide torture is the best option is what I'm more interested in.

One chance of reasoning, killing him brutally afterwards, if he does not take it, no holds.

And I assume that this topic should be strictly in the confines of the movie, meaning no generalization into whether to torture good or bad.

I would just fly into space and punch the meteorite with my powerfists.

He would probably just lie like most torture victims do. This scenario never really made that much of an impression on me since there still is very little evidence of the effectiveness of torture.

Mental games good, torture bad. Like Jyffeh said, anyone that fanatical will lie right up til the point it kills them. You'd need to be sneaky to get someone like that to tell you anything.

However, I have to say about the whole "No what if's" thing - that's a bit stupid. The way you deal with this outside of hollywood is keep a close eye on nuclear materials and known fanatical groups. If you let three nukes get into the hands of a fanatic without a single clue as to the recent movements of either, your national security has already failed spectacularly. This question is essentially this:

If you've totally and utterly fucked things up, do you sink to their level and go down fighting, or try and maintain a moral high ground but risk looking impotent?