I’m actually very sympathetic to this argument:

Dear Jonah, Sure, torture was probably involved many times in the US past during previous wars. However, it was always backroom stuff, hidden from the public. Now it’s a different matter and up for legalized sanction. That’s never happened before. Just because some people slipped out back when we weren’t looking and did some extra-legal things in order to obtain information doesn’t mean that we should legalize those means. WFB’s comments are dead on, but leave one thing unsaid. Just because there might be an occasional reason to act outside the law and steal bread or shoot someone in the face doesn’t mean we should legalize stealing or murder. If an intruder breaks into my home and I shoot him in self-defense I know that I will still have to face at least a police investigation and I might have to defend my actions before a jury. However, passing a law that recognizes the need for such a self-defense action and therefore legalizes the shooting of strangers in the home would not be good, either. Torture as a policy or especially as a legalized means to obtain information is a terrible idea. I’m staunchly conservative but I can never support this, and I resent that my consent is being sought (through my representatives in Congress) for such a law.

Update: From another reader:

Most of us were okay with leaving the interrogations in secret facilities with CIA operatives, well aware that this was going on on the fringes of society, by dire necessity. So who dragged it kicking and screaming into the Congress, with the only alternative being the complete destruction of the programs? Who is insisting that ALL of our classified material is dragged into the light, completely discarding intelligence committees and other ways of oversight that have worked well for years?