No Pain No Curtain Analysis

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.

Every single person in America today grew up with the belief that torture is morally wrong. Popular culture, religious point of views, and every other form of culture for many decades has taught that it is a wrongdoing. But is torture really a wrong act to do? To examine the act of torture as either a means or an end we must inquire about whether torture is a means towards justice and therefore morally permissible to practice torture on certain occasions. “Three issues dominate the debates over the morality of torture: (1) Does torture work? (2) Is torture ever morally acceptable? And (3) What should be the state’s policy regarding the use of torture?” (Vaughn, 605). Torture “is the intentional inflicting of severe pain or suffering on people to punish or intimidate them or to extract information from them” (Vaughn, 604). The thought of torture can be a means of promoting justice by using both the Utilitarian view and the Aristotelian view. Using John Stuart Mills concept of utilitarianism, he focuses on the greatest happiness principle which helps us understand his perspective on torture and whether he believes it is acceptable to do so, and Aristotle uses the method of virtue of ethics to helps us better understand if he is for torture. The term torture shall be determined by exploring both philosophers’ definition of justice, what comprises a “just” act, what is considered “unjust”, and then determined if it would be accepted by, or condemned by either of these two

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.

The United States citizens have been wrestling with the question of, whether their government intelligence agencies should be prohibited from using torture to gather information. According to Michael Ignatieff, this is the hardest case of what he describes as ‘lesser evil ethics’—a political ethics predicated on the idea that in emergencies leaders must choose between different evils Before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, torture was viewed by most American’s as only actions that brutal dictators would employ on their citizens, to keep order within their country. However, this all changed when in May 2004, The New Yorker released photographs from the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. The disturbing pictures were released on the internet showing bodies of naked Iraqis piled onto each other, others showed Iraqis being tortured and humiliated. There was a huge up roar, which caused the President at the time George W. Bush to publicly apologize, and threaten the job of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Soon after, the CIA Conformed the use of waterboarding on three Al-Qaida suspects in 2002 and 2003, which further annihilated the topic. Since these reports, torture has been in the forefront of national politics, and the public opinion has been struggling to commit on whether torture is right or wrong.

The U.S. government’s misguided embrace of torture, secret prisons, and renditions to torture over the past seven years have undermined its counterterrorism efforts, provided enemies with an easy recruiting tool, and diminished the United States’ reputation as a world leader in advancing and upholding human rights. Restoring our nation’s commitment to humane treatment must be a top priority for the next president. This is not a partisan issue; during the 2008 presidential campaign, both President-elect Barack Obama and Senator John McCain acknowledged the damage to the reputation of the United States that has been caused by this policy of torture and official cruelty, and each has vowed as president to uphold existing bans on torture the Bush

Since the tragic incident that occurred September 11, 2001 innocent and guilty prisoners have been captured by Americans and are being tortured. The camps and prisons they’re being held at are located in Guantanamo Bay. The Taliban and al Qaeda are the terrorist groups involved. This is important because America is torturing innocent people. Torturing terrorists is ineffective because it’s a violation of human rights, false information is given under pressure, and it gains enemies through abusive tactics.

As widely condemned as torture is, some do argue that, despite its myriad of flaws it does achieve results. An example, these supporters commonly use is that since the Bush Administration (2001-2009) allowed it there has been a tremendous absence of terror attacks within the US. Thus seemingly proving that torture was the real reason that terror attacks stopped in the US. However, this mentality carries copious flaws along with it. The main one being that “since the Obama Administration(2009-2017) stopped using torture there has been tranquility as well” (Gutting, McMahan 17).

“With its provocative detail splashed across the TV screens, front pages and websites of our media, the report will undoubtedly endanger American lives” (PRO: Report gives extremists a rallying cry). The Senate report released about the CIA tortures detailed actions made by CIA officials towards torturing prisoners. It explains the use of various forms of torture in the United States ever since the September 11th, 2001 attack and 2006 during the war on terror. Many people argue that the CIA torture report did not hurt the United States and its interests, but there is enough evidence to believe otherwise. For starters, the Senate report encourages extremists to further attack the United States, it leaves the US completely defenseless due to the fact that not many countries will be willing to help the US in any oncoming war, and lastly it caused immeasurable damage to the United States' public standing, as well as to the United States' longstanding global

Since -9/11, torture has been official US policy by George Bush at the highest levels of government. On September 17, 2001, George Bush signed a secret finding empowering CIA to "Capture, Kill, or Interrogate Al-Queda Leaders." (Lendman, 2008). It also authorized establishing a secret global facilities to detain and interrogate them without guidelines on proper treatment. In the same time, Bush approved a secret "high-value target list" of about two dozen names. He also gave CIA free reign to capture, kill and interrogate terrorists that were not on the list (Lendman, 2008). What is torture: (a) the intentional infliction of extreme physical pain or suffering on some non-consenting, defenseless person; (b) the intentional, substantial curtailment of the exercise of a person 's autonomy (achieved by means of (a)); (c) in general, undertaken for the purpose of breaking the victim 's will." We will discuss terrorism and torture, look at arguments for and against each practice, and ethically evaluate those arguments (Lendman, 2008)..

First, as established above, “torture” is not being used on suspected terrorists-- they are using stress and duress to extract information. Secondly, terrorists openly express their hate for this country and say they are proud of their actions; none have incriminated themselves by nothing more than the truth. A terrorist is not going to bluntly admit to something he/she did not do, even if he was severely tortured which they are not. Government documentation, the definition of the word torture, and 58% of our nation can prove that. Not to mention, a trial is costly. To fly a terrorist to our country to have a so-called “fair trial” is ridiculous and costs the people of this nation hard earned money to have this man put on trial. Not only is it costly, but it brings him/her into the country that his leaders and fellow terrorists spilt blood in. It is not only ethically incorrect to pay American money for these terrorists to have American rights; it is unconstitutional to not give someone a fair trial.

The approach taken by the United States to fight terrorism following the 9/11 attack has been criticized in many spheres. The declaration of a worldwide “war on terror” by the Bush administration has been condemned for lack of moral and ethical justification. Specifically, the country has been vilified for the lack of moral justification to lead the fight against terrorism. The adoption of an open policy by the Bush Administration where anyone suspected of having links with terror groups can be held without trial and the right to attorney and even killed if deemed necessary has received the highest criticism (Struhl, 2005). Critics argue the approach adopted by the nation to fight terrorism represent an ideology of fear and repression that

Our thinking should not just be on fighting other countries to try and rid ourselves of violations and torture of our rights, but to remember that this is happening right in our own backyards. As the former director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Michael Leiter, put it: Demonstration of American resiliency will show the terrorists that they will not succeed (Leiter, 2014). America is undeniably an amazing example of fairness and democracy, but it’s people’s rights are at risk at all times. Never should it be thought of as acceptable to chance who may be a terrorist, suffering is unnecessarily for those that are not deserving of it. Being sent to prison for an unimaginable amount of time without help from lawyers or other’s help is

America has dealt with many situations the wrong way, for example, the encounter with the Native Americans. What has America done wrong in regards to terrorism and terror suspects, and how can we as a country change it for the better and still be aggressive in keeping terror out of our country? The Geneva Convention rules were put into place to protect prisoners of war, soldiers, and civilians. It describes in full detail how these people should be treated and how our country should deal with civilians, soldiers, and prisoners of war in all different aspects. But, months after the tragic event of September 11, 2001, the president, George Bush declared that members of the al-Qaeda and others were not entitled to the formal protections of the Geneva Convention (Washington Post). Who protects the detainees from inhumane treatment, abuse, and other vicious and cruel treatment? America in its entirety should accept accountability for the repetitive acts of inhumane cruelty and torture towards the detainees. They need to redirect that aggression and focus it towards finding effective non-life threating ways to protect. The punishment should ultimately fit the crime as long as the punished is the actual threat to our nation.

Terrorism is a huge problem affecting the American public in many ways. There have been 76 cases involving radical islamic terror attacks targeting the United States since the attacks of 9/11. (Mueller) The first issue with Terrorism is laws are not strict enough to deter terrorist from attacking. If terrorist believe they can get out of harsh punishments, then our current laws need to change. Killing innocent people is one of the most unethical acts someone can commit. The punishments for doing so do not reflect the extremity of the action. Current lawmakers should consider the extreme harm terrorism is causing in the United States. Another problem within Terrorism is the use of waterboarding and other interrogation techniques are currently outlawed because they are seen as inhumane. This is an issue because terrorist now do not have to talk or explain why or how they did it. Even after committing an act of terror and killing innocents, they don’t have to explain themselves. If the government understands a specific person knows the information to stop another terror attack, they could not do anything about it.The final problem with Terrorism is American lives are lost and billions of dollars in property damage are lost as well. Terrorists are bringing fear into the lives of the American Public. Lives are lost and many are injured after a terror attack. Many Americans are in fear that they will be the next victim. “More broadly, 3,066 Americans have been killed in terrorist

people will look at scenarios differently when one scenario is a bombing mission where the soldier is on the plane dropping bombs and the other is to hear that same soldier killed five innocent girls and their mother (Harris). There is no doubt there will be women and little girls killed from those bombs dropped at such high points in the sky (Harris). It is just a matter of perspective and how it may sound to the people of the world. Also, it is a fact that the terrorist group, Al Qaeda tells its detainees to accept torture regardless of what happens to them in U.S (Harris). Al Qaeda knows America tries to hold their morals and standards very high and America’s greatest weapons are their freedom and mercy (Harris). With this type of policy in place, America will always have a weakness against terrorist groups such as Al- Qaeda (Harris). So, with the enforcement of torture warrants, there will be no weaknesses against any type of terror group because America can issue a warrant whenever it deems necessary.