Since the turn of the century, torture has become an intellectually and morally depraved weapon of choice in the so-called war on terror. At once the product of, and apology for, the often sincerely held moral conviction that the ends justify the means, what has long been a ubiquitous but unacknowledged weapon of "civilised" states has begun to be seen as acceptable, whether through the writings of academic apologists or the propaganda of popular culture. As with torture, so with its alleged justification, the "war on terror": the debates are replete with unacknowledged assumptions and spurious arguments. We see to understand, explain and combat both torture and the very idea of "terrorism".
