[ would you torture the family fember of a terrorist? ]

Without question. I don't consider these nutjobbers human.

[ You couldn't think of them as human and torture them. Could you?

The ability to torture someone, like the ability to own someone, requires that you think of your victim as less than human.

But to do that requires that you lose some of your own humanity. ]

If "losing some of my humanity" means choosing to use a propane torch and a pair of pliers on some terrorist's genitals rather than let my wife, stepson, mother, sister or father suffer some horrific fate, I am willing to chance it. IMO, that wouldn't kill your humanity more than letting a loved one die in such a way when you had the power to stop it.

As for being squeamish... Let's just put it this way. I hunt, have killed and been elbow-deep in the chest cavities countless animals that were far less deserving of death than some inhuman terrorist grint. To date, I have yet to lose any sleep over it. In all honesty, I always ensure I make a clean, efficient kill shot on a game animal in order to minimize its suffering. If I can't make an ethical kill, I let the animal walk. However, I would fire upon terrorists without regard to where I hit them, as long as I knew they would eventually die from the injuries I inflicted. As such, if I haven't lost any of my humanity yet, I doubt very much I would lose any from torturing a terrorist. YMMV.

That being said, I'm not going to ridicule you if you are squeamish when it comes to killing. I just gave you the reasons why most people buy their meat from their supermarket rather than shooting it themselves. It comes down to willpower, fortitude and not being afraid of a little wetwork.