I admit we were too lucky that the Nazi nuclear program didn't succeed. But the fact that the "good guys" were the first to get the bomb is no more reassurance than the "good guy with a gun" cliché.

So your argument is that therefore good guys shouldn't develop atomic weapons or carry guns?

If the Koran-in-the-toilet remark is meant as an argument for enhanced interrogation, we live in separate moral universes.

I was making factual (not moral) claims about the effects of various levels of brutality on the chances of retaliation. We can talk about moral claims once we've established what the effects of various policies are likely to be. Also, if you can't imagine there being valid arguments for policies you disagree with, you're going to have a very hard time being rational about policy.

Experts of the International Atomic Energy Agency whose job it is to get their nose in places and ask questions

Would those be the same experts that are outsourcing inspecting Iranian nuclear sites to the Iranians themselves?