Torture has long been a controversial issue in the battle against terrorism. Especially, the catastrophic incident of September 11, 2001 has once again brought the issue into debate, and this time with more rage than ever before. Even until today, the debate over should we or should we not use torture interrogation to obtain information from terrorists has never died down. Many questions were brought up: Does the method go against the law of human rights? Does it help prevent more terrorist attacks? Should it be made visible by law? It is undeniable that the use of torture interrogation surely brings up a lot of problems as well as criticism. One of the biggest problems is that if torture is effective at all. There are …show more content…
After the incident, another question was brought forth: Whether it was time the government decided that desperate times called for desperate measures, and that torture interrogation was in need. According to the United Nations Convention Against Torture, torture is:
Any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him, or a third person, information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. (85) And it is also prohibited. But the truth is, even when being outlawed, torture is still used silently, especially in the interrogation of terrorists. Did it have any effect on the long-term battle against terrorism of the U.S and the world? According to John McCain, it is a no. In “Torture’s Terrible Toll”, he wrote about his own experience:
I was once physically coerced to provide my enemies with the names of the members of my flight squadron, information that had little if any value to my enemies as actionable intelligence. But I did not refuse, or repeat my insistence that I was required under
While the law itself condemns use of torture for any purpose, torture becomes necessary to be used in particular critical instances. According to Miles, the United States senate allowed the use of enhanced interrogation techniques on a number of cases and detainees. The human rights should be considered first in any event whether in interrogation or any other course of action1. The policy makers have found themselves between hard and difficult decisions to make on the techniques for obtaining vital information from terrorists who are trained heavily on resisting from giving information when caught in the wrong side of the law.
Torture has been a sensitive subject in our government and among the people of the US. The article “Torture is Wrong-But it Might Work” Bloche about how even though torture is not moral to some, it can still provide effective results because of advanced techniques and psychological studies. He goes on to say that many believe it is effective but others will say it does not provide adequate results in interrogation efforts. Senators such as John McCain (R-Ariz.) believe it does not help at all; however, other government officials, such as former attorney general Michael Mukasey and former vice president Dick Cheney, believe it does (Bloche 115).
The War on Terror has produced several different viewpoints on the utilization of torture and its effectiveness as a means to elicit information. A main argument has been supplied that torture is ineffective in its purpose to gather information from the victim. The usefulness of torture has been questioned because prisoners might use false information to elude their torturers, which has occurred in previous cases of torture. It has also been supposed that torture is necessary in order to use the information to save many lives. Torture has been compared to civil disobedience. In addition, the argument has been raised that torture is immoral and inhumane. Lastly, Some say that the acts are not even regarded as torture.
Torture has long been used by law enforcement agencies and governments to questions criminals and terrorists. It is used to coax confessions or to find out any sort of information that may lead to the arrest or capture of other criminals. Although the torturing of prisoners in the United States is strictly prohibited by the constitution, the government started using the tactic waterboarding against terrorists. Although the government says waterboarding has led to prevention on mass terrorist attacks on U.S soil, it is not accepted by all of this country’s citizens. It is believed by certain people that waterboarding is torture and others do not believe it is. It is my goal to explore why the United States deemed this
The use of torture as a strategy of war is as old as war itself. Torture serves a number of different functions. One of those functions is punishment for crimes committed, and torture is still used in this way to some degree. Another one of the functions of torture is to extract information or confessions. It is this type of torture that Alan Dershowitz and Ken Roth claim was, and still is, being used in the war against terrorism. Although torture violates the principles of the Geneva Convention, it is still used: "countries all over the world violate the Geneva Accords. They do it secretly," (Dershowitz, cited in "Dershowitz: Torture could be justified"). The use of torture can be " as a last resort in the ticking-bomb case, to save enormous numbers of lives, it ought to be done openly, with accountability, with approval by the president of the United States or by a Supreme Court justice," (Dershowitz, cited in "Dershowitz: Torture could be justified"). This stance echoes the official stance of the United States after September 11, when the White House claimed that torture may be "justified" (Priest and Smith). The argument is simple: if torturing one person leads to information that saes hundreds or thousands of lives, then it is worth it. "We won't know if he is a ticking-bomb terrorist unless he provides us information, and he's not likely to provide information unless we use certain extreme measures," (Dershowitz, cited in "Dershowitz: Torture could be justified").
People’s imaginations start to go wild when they hear the word torture. However, there are enhanced interrogation techniques that are more humane than others. Waterboarding, for example, simulates the effect of drowning and is highly recommended by people such as former Vice President Dick Cheney (Defrank). It is highly unpleasant, but breaks no bones and leaves no bruises. It also exposes those performing the interrogation to lesser psychological strain than other methods that could be used would. Torture is accused of being a cancer in society, but if regulated and reserved for the “especially” bad guys, societal homeostasis would be maintained.
The issue of torture in relation to terrorism is a sensitive one that cannot be fully answered in a simple scope of an exam. One school of thought that is dominant in mainstream American thought is that torture is cruel but necessary. The United States government has tortured people in the past who are accused of terrorism to extract sensitive information that could save more lives of potential victims in the future.
Enhanced Interrogation, also known as torture, has been around all around the world in many instances. The most notable use of enhanced interrogation was after the terrorist attack on 9/11. The U.S. uses locations known as black sites outside of the country for their enhanced interrogation. The question on whether enhanced interrogation or torture should be allowed arises when these methods work or when they fail. Although enhanced interrogation works sometimes, we, as a country, should not use it because it is a violation of Article 5 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights.
An important reason why torture should not be used is because it is simply illegal. Torture is a violation of the human rights law. This law passed
Currently, many people believe that by using torture or enhanced interrogation techniques, America would be straying from her democratic beliefs, moral ideals, and humane ideas; however, there could be nothing further from the truth. There could be nothing more inhumane than doing absolutely nothing and watch as innocent people are being tortured or killed (Bagaric). The United States Government must realize that innocent American lives are paramount and they should not be treated or equally compared to that of a destructive barbaric extremist. In accomplishing this, they must come to a consensus that not everyone in this world is equal nor should they be treated as such. A terrorist who has murdered virtuous people in the past and would willingly proceed to do it again should not be looked to as an equal person deserving rights. For
In today’s society there are fewer things more hotly debated that terrorists and our treatment of them. Should we torture apprehended terror suspects in the hopes that they may have important information, or should we protect the rights of terrorists leaving our citizens vulnerable and unprotected? The answer is not simple, if we allow ourselves to become that which opposes us we will be no better than our enemies. As difficult a decision as it may be, refusing to torture our enemies unless absolutely necessary keeps our conscious clean and helps us end the ongoing cycle of violence between ourselves and our enemies.
The issue of torture is being very current and it arouses debate between those who are totally against it; those who think that it sometimes can be used for good; and those who are in between. The idea of torture was seen only as something that happened far away in time, and it should not even be considered as an issue of the modern society. Furthermore, torture was seen as a violation of the fundamental human rights, which were protected by different human rights conventions. But then something happened and actually influenced the general opinion about the issue of torture. Criminal attacks nowadays are not very rare. As long as we continue to be threatened from those criminal attacks, this issue will
The definition of torture is the action or practice of inflicting severe pain on someone as a punishment or to force them to do or say something, or for the pleasure of the person inflicting the pain. The question on our minds is whether or not torture should be allowed. After doing research I believe that torture should not be allowed. We have multiple laws that state that torture is illegal, torture is immoral, and there are cases and evidence that show that torture has led to false admissions.
Imagine awaking in the morning, going downstairs and preparing the morning meal. While enjoying the sunshine through the kitchen window along with a chai tea latte, the news on the television suddenly changes from the mundane to chaotic confusion. Disaster has struck! The implausible has just happened and the nation is in chaos. This disaster could happen at any moment and at any point across the globe. If the only method of prevention to this traumatic event is by the skilled technique of information extraction known as torture, would it not be the government’s obligation to the people to ensure this method of prevention was exercised? When considering the threat from extremists, the United States government must allow for the use of
Strong advocates of anti-torture laws will give you a straightforward answer, that torture should be banned because it’s immoral and impractical. It is unpleasant, insufferable and a clear violation of human rights. From the moral