The economics of cruelty: Bush-era torture memos fail the Machiavelli test

This past week, the United States Justice Department released four memos showing that its lawyers approved of the Central Intelligence Agency's use of "enhanced interrogation" techniques. President Obama hailed the move, stating that America needs to move beyond "a dark and painful chapter" in its history by exposing what actually happened.

These memos open up a difficult question of the role of cruelty in world politics. While some pundits will endlessly argue for the wisdom of the CIA's tactics, others will position it as one of the morally darkest episodes in American history. The truth is, perhaps, a little less clear-cut.