The man who gunned down abortion provider George Tiller is now saying that similar attacks are planned:

The man charged with murdering a high-profile abortion doctor claimed from his jail cell Sunday that similar violence was planned around the nation for as long as the procedure remained legal, a threat that comes days after a federal investigation launched into his possible accomplices. A Justice Department spokesman said the threat was being taken seriously and additional protection had been ordered for abortion clinics last week. But a leader of the anti-abortion movement derided the accused shooter as “a fruit and a lunatic.” Scott Roeder called The Associated Press from the Sedgwick County jail, where he’s being held on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated assault in the shooting of Dr. George Tiller one week ago. “I know there are many other similar events planned around the country as long as abortion remains legal,” Roeder said. When asked by the AP what he meant and if he was referring to another shooting, he refused to elaborate further.

John Cole makes exactly the right point about this “ticking time bomb” scenario:

Since there is no doubt that we have a history of anti-abortion domestic terrorism, and since we know that evangelicals already support torture for everyone, when do we get to start waterboarding this guy? Does he have any children whose testicles can be crushed? Will we keep him up for weeks on end in stress positions in extremely cold rooms to get him to break? Beat him? All the right made a very good show of how shocked and appalled they were when this man killed Dr. Tiller, so surely they will not object. So when do we get to start torturing this guy? And of course, the answer should be “NEVER.” Torture is wrong. Torture is immoral. Torture is evil. Torture is illegal. Torture does more violence to our values than it does to the individual being tortured. Torture is unreliable. Torture is counter-productive- everything someone says after being tortured should be treated as suspect.

If we don’t torture this guy, why not? Are squeamish Americans only cool with torturing brown people?

Update: Conservative Conor Friedersdorf agrees:

Forgive me for reiterating a point I’ve made before, but now that the guy who killed that abortion doctor is claiming he knows that more anti-abortion terrorist attacks are coming, the logic of the “enhanced interrogation technique” crowd really does suggest that he ought to be put on the waterboard, slammed into the wall, shackled naked in stress positions, etc. And it is equally evident that this guy won’t be tortured — and rightfully so — because even though lives are at risk, it seems plain as day that torture is wrong when it is an American in custody, even when the American is charged with murder and making explicit threats, whereas some of the foreigners we tortured turned out to have been guilty of nothing except being rounded up by bounty hunters.

Update 2: As does Jeff Fecke: