Even I think this is far fetched, but The Independent is reporting that the former head of MI5 implied that the TV show 24 influenced the Bush administrations torture policy:

In her speech, highly critical of the US's conduct during the war on terror, the former secret service chief implied that the leadership in Washington was inspired by watching the TV espionage thriller 24. She said: "Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld certainly watched 24". Dame Eliza said: "The Americans were very keen that people like us did not discover what they were doing." She insisted that she had been unaware of what was going on until her retirement in 2007.

Oh come on, the TV show 24 influenced their decisions?

But then again - perhaps it was the other way around. The Bush administration used TV to soften the public for the use of torture. And it seems that I am not the only one to think this. Archie Bland has an opinion piece in the same paper where he says:

It's likely that this is the wrong way round. The whole point about the neocons, after all, is that they've been itching to get their hands on a bucket of water and a fishy-looking foreigner since about 1987. 24 has simply caught up.

Could it be that Wag the Dog is not fiction after all?