Omnius Deus was trying to point out that if our government can't be certain of the guilt of the people it tortures, it shouldn't torture at all. Every report I've read, for example, about the inmates at Guantanamo indicates that the vast majority are very likely innocent and a substantial number have proof of their innocence, but since they don't have habeas corpus rights, they can't bring their case to trial to prove their innocence.

The practice of kidnapping such people has led to nations such as Britain and Italy bringing cases against the CIA for violating their laws. It has also led to the extraordinary rendition case of the innocent, Pakistani software programmer who was captured at the U.S.-Canadian border, sent to Syria to be tortured(do we really trust the Syrians to tell us what they learn from terrorists?) and was finally released after a year of torture. Canada apologized, but the U.S. government has refused to apologize as of yet. The man has not been able to bring charges against the U.S. government because the courts have ruled that doing so would jeopardize state secrets.

If one man could be innocent, so could many of the thousands of others being tortured in secret prisons and sent to other governments to be tortured.