Labour Friends of Iraq believes the British government should take the lead in arguing for an absolute prohibition on torture on two grounds: pragmatism and principle.Quite so. Torture is never acceptable as policy; as a specific act it is always a moral crime; and it is outlawed under international law as being a crime against humanity. Torture ruins the lives of those who survive it, those whom it doesn't kill. Philosophers, bloggers and others can always come up with a challenging example to show why there (surely?) have to be exceptional cases, permitted by exceptional circumstances. One man or woman who knows where the nuke is that is about to incinerate tens of thousands, etc.
However. First, these exceptional circumstances are virtually never the circumstances under discussion when the actual use of torture by actual governments is being publicly debated. Second, it is better even for thinking about the exceptional cases - if, that is, you really ever had to do this - to start by knowing that the torture of another human being is an absolute wrong. It is an abomination.
