In the days following the death of Osama bin Laden, the American people experienced a proud sense of unity and solidarity that had not been felt since the immediate aftershock of 9/11. For a moment, Americans put aside their differences to join one another in celebration, relief and personal reflection.

But that moment was all too brief.

After all, why let unity stand in the way of partisan bickering, conspiracy theories and finger pointing? Only days after the collective celebration that followed bin Laden’s death, the national discourse has once again turned sour.

The conspiracy theories were to be expected, and it wasn’t that much of a surprise to hear demands for the White House to release the grisly photos of America’s arch-nemesis. But the latest debate

dominating the national discussion has much broader implications.

Did waterboarding lead to Osama bin Laden? How crucial were “enhanced interrogation techniques” in gathering vital information? Will we have to endure the chants of “I told you so!” from the many advocates of such brutal torture methods?

As it turns out, these are the questions that have now captured America’s interest. Fierce debate has erupted between long-time supporters of brutal interrogation and those that argue that torture is ineffective and/or immoral. Proponents of such practices as waterboarding claim that harsh interrogation techniques

directly led to the vital information needed to find bin Laden, justifying both the past and future use of torture. Among these proponents are many former Bush administration officials such as John Yoo, who credited Obama with the accomplishment but said “he owes it to the tough decisions taken by the Bush administration.”

But many of the torture advocates’ claims have already been refuted across the board. Numerous detainees were subjected to repeated waterboarding, but they revealed only a mix of misleading, unreliable or completely fabricated information.

Meanwhile, some detainees offered much more valuable insight under far less brutal treatment. In fact, several high level C.I.A. officials, such as former interrogator and Directorate of Operations Glenn Carle, agree that enhanced interrogation techniques played a minimal role in leading to bin Laden’s demise. Even Sen. John “Maverick” McCain dismissed the idea of waterboarding as an effective or moral interrogation method.

The bottom line is that the U.S. gathered a vast and complicated array of information through various methods and techniques, and it is nearly impossible to sort through that data and make a strong case for one method or another. In short, there is no basis to the claim that waterboarding led directly to bin Laden’s defeat.

But like so many other ludicrous arguments, this one has quickly found its way into the mainstream media. Take Fox host Eric Bolling, for example, who told his Wednesday viewers that bin Laden “was gotten through waterboarding, simple as that.” He then went on to read a list of viewer suggestions naming the people they would most like to see waterboarded. The list ranged from President Obama to Joy Behar to Keith Olbermann to “my ex-wife.”

And in case any doubt remained as to his status as scumbag extraordinaire, Bolling also dismissed the brutality of waterboarding by comparing it to “a typical weekend at my house with my 12-year-old son.”

Despite the moronic ramblings of Eric Bolling, the real tragedy of this story lies in the obvious indifference so many Americans display when it comes to torture. Perhaps they’ve been desensitized. Perhaps the old “ends justify the means” argument is enough for some to turn a blind eye.

But the United States is better than this. The chants of “We’re Number One!” don’t mean much if we can’t set the standard for the rest of the world. Torture is torture; there’s no way around it, and there’s no reason to justify it.

Just ask Christopher Hitchens, a Vanity Fair journalist who voluntarily underwent waterboarding in a courageous attempt to understand the interrogation techniques that we so often hear about, but never fully understand. He was waterboarded under the supervision of trained specialists with plenty of safety precautions in place.

And he lasted about ten seconds.

Armen Changelian is a Weinberg sophomore and DAILY blogger. He can be reached [email protected] and followed at twitter.com/shroomalogs.

Watch Christopher Hitchens voluntarily undergo waterboarding below. The images you see may be graphic: