The Problem of Dirty Hands in Politics

I think what Walter usually means is that the political order is such that sometimes a certain sort of necessity overrides genuine morality. That's going back to Machiavelli who uses that term too. So if I can give an example the political leader is facing terrorist threats and he thinks torture is deeply immoral as many of us do but now he's got hold of somebody who knows where the bomb is hidden. This is now known as the ticking bomb example. In spite of his strong moral objections he has to order the torture of the person - according to Walter he should feel very torn about this and remorseful. The way you've described that it's a problem that can only arise in really