Research Paper Topic:
With the closing of Guantanamo Bay Prison and CIA prisons used to interrogate alleged terrorists using methods of torture to retain information, should torture continue to be used by the government and is it a useful tool? Identify your position and refer to sources.
Should Torture Continue To Be Used By The Government?
There is always somebody with more information, money, and power. Usually it is the government, for various reasons, that will not give out information regarding torture. Therefore, whatever we see on TV, read in books, hear from other and sometimes experience ourselves will be the only base of our knowledge on this subject. There is not much we can do to change the current situation, because the
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And what if the person is not guilty, but he tells you what you want to hear just to stop the pain. That’s what El-Ibrahim did. Will the mission of torture be accomplished in the end? I don’t think so. The story about El-Ibrahim had a good ending; the guy was alive at the end. How many stories though don’t have happy endings? I think if we decide to count, the list would be endless.
Torture doesn’t just solely exist in the US, in Guantanamo Bay, but in many other countries. Most of my life I have lived in Russia where laws don’t work as well as they should. It is a mandatory for all the boys to go to the Army, once you turn 18. There are only few reasons, mostly due to health conditions, that will allow you to skip 2 years of being there. Serving your country has always been considered an act of patriotism. Not everybody knows that once you are in the Russian Army, your life is in danger. Danger in this case doesn’t mean to be killed while fighting, but to be tortured by you peers. Whoever came to Army first, supposively has more rights over new enrollees. Not everybody gets back home the same as they left. Mothers look for any possibility not to let their sons join the Army as they want them alive. This is torture that also involves physical violence. Some guys can’t take it for a long time and commit suicides. Why does it have to be this way? Why torture without a necessity?
On the other hand, there are also extreme
Torture is something that is known as wrong internationally. Torture is “deliberate, systematic or wanton infliction of physical or mental suffering by one or more persons acting on the orders of authority, to force a person to yield information, to confess, or any other reason” (World Medical Association, 1975, pg.1). There is a general consensus that there is a right to be free from any kind of torture as it can be found in many different human rights treaties around the world. The treaties show that all of the thoughts about torture are pointing away from the right to torture someone no matter what the case
“Torture and abusive interrogation tactics are illegal under both U.S. law and international law. Torture is prohibited under federal law, as are lesser forms of detainee abuse such as cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.” (Human Rights First)
Torture is known as the intentional infliction of either physical or psychological harm for the purpose of gaining something – typically information – from the subject for the benefit of the inflictor. Normal human morality would typically argue that this is a wrongful and horrendous act. On the contrary, to deal with the “war on terrorism” torture has begun to work its way towards being an accepted plan of action against terrorism targeting the United States. Terroristic acts perpetrate anger in individuals throughout the United States, so torture has migrated to being considered as a viable form of action through a blind eye. Suspect terrorists arguably have basic human rights and should not be put through such psychologically and physically damaging circumstances.
There are different laws over all countries that control by every government in the world. For those who is a criminal or a prisoner, their country’s government has different laws of punishment to punish them. Torture is one of them. The function of torture is to force someone to say something and as a punishment. Torture is unacceptable which I disagree on which it is an action of inhumanly.
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.
The United States is considered one of the most powerful countries in the world. They have a well organized and trained armed forces. But, they were built with principles and moral standards. According to those rules, people could not do what they pleased all the time. The paper signed by the founding Fathers is, the Constitution of the United States, which prohibits the enforcers of the law to torture. Yet, it is still done. There is no straight statement that prohibits torture. An arguement of whether it can be legal or not is made, for the use of, retriving important information, the use of the 8th amendment and how 9/ 11 change some perspectives.
Is torture justified? Does it make us feel safer? Most Americans would say that it is immoral to torture any human being for any reason. There are a few people left who would disagree with that and say that some deserve to be tortured in order to obtain information that could potentially save the lives of hundreds or thousands.
Interrogational torture is one of the many tough ethical questions that people debate about in the United States. Is it right or is it wrong? Many believe that the United States does not practice intense interrogational acts such as torture. Many people have fought to abolish any form of torture while many fight to keep some forms of it to help keep the peace. Whether you believe in it or not, torture is and will always be an ethical dilemma that comes up.
Torture is commonly practiced all over the world, but most notably in the Guantánamo bay detention center in Cuba. It is most commonly used on prisoners of war to obtain useful enemy information, but it is not limited to that as it is practiced in normal prisons and jails. After experiencing torture, people don’t possess the same mindset. These (cruel ) sessions of
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
Torture is not a new ethical dilemma, because torture has been practiced throughout human history and in different cultures. Now, however, the Geneva Convention and other modern norms suggest that human beings should not resort to using torture. Torture is becoming taboo as a method of intelligence gathering, which is why the methods used during the Iraq war were decried. However, the ethical case can be made for torture. If torturing one human being leads to information that could save the lives of a thousand, torture suddenly seems like a sensible method. This is a utilitarian perspective on torture, which many people find palatable. However, there are problems with this method of thinking about torture. The state-sanctioned use of torture creates a normative framework in which torture becomes acceptable. Torture sends the wrong message about what a free, open, and enlightened society should be. Even if torture is only acceptable in extreme circumstances, as with a suspect who might know something about an impending terrorist attack, who decides when and what type of torture should be used? There is too much potential for abuse of the moral loophole with regards to torture. If the United States hopes to be a role model, then torture cannot fit into its intelligence methods.
Maria, I agreed with you on some points. Howeve,r I think that torture will not always lead to the truth. First, the US is a country that respects human rights, and torture is a method that goes against human rights. Torture someone will not always lead to the true. Some people lie just because they are being tortured by giving false information. Furthermore, torture can lead to death and maybe the person being torture is the only one that can provide the information needed. I believe that there is another way out to find the true. I agree with you that sometimes innocent people are tortured just because they suspect that they can provide some information that can lead to the one needed.
Nobody knows who is going to get tortured, most of the time they tortured people for no reason. Torture was
Torture also has been accused of not producing reliable information (Hajjar). People argue that people will confess to anything if tortured and even reference events in history such as the Spanish Inquisition. It must be understood that if torture were to be legalized, it would not be used often. It would be reserved for the select few when occasion would arise, that have pertinent information that could help save lives. Bush even mentioned out of the many people that they captured, only three people were subjected to “enhanced interrogation.” Results were proved reliable as the Al Qaida leader, who was planning an attack on the tenth anniversary of 9-11, was found (Richey). Torture, when done right, can produce valid intelligence. We have proven with the capture of Osama Bin Laden that we can