Use Of Torture

David Figueroa Eng. 101A Professor Stern 4/20/15 Final draft In conclusion, in discussions of torture, one controversial issue has been on the use of it. On one hand, the people against torture argue that it is cruel and unusual punishment. On the other hand, those for torture argue that it should be used for the greater good. Others even maintain that under extreme circumstances, it may be admissible if it can save American lives. My own view is that no one should be subjected to cruel punishment because it is not only illegal, unreliable, ineffective, time consuming, it also has too many flaws that could potentially ruin innocent lives. The definition of torture is any act, whether physical or emotional, or maybe both, is intentionally subjected to a specific individual or a group for many reasons. Most of these reasons that torture is administered is for extracting information from an individual or just for punishing him/her for a crime that he/she has committed or is suspected of committing. The use of torture can be used to intimidate a person to give information that may be beneficial for a nation. The use of torture has been used for many centuries. The purposes of using torture have changed over the years as well as the methods in which a person is tortured. One crucial piece that has been established that separates us human beings from barbarians is the prohibition of using torture. There are many reasons why torture has been deemed a crime now in society. There are

Bloche talks about how advanced interrogation and torture techniques have emerged to adapt to specific situations; and that many people believe that torture doesn’t help anything because people will say anything to get out of such tortures (Bloche 115). The article states that nothing can force someone to tell the truth; however, through harsh methods of abuse, you can instill a sense of hopelessness in the person being interrogated (Bloche

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 was considered to be somewhat justified in such incidents known as the ticking time bomb scenario. For there to be a justification for the necessity of torture to protect lives there must be six key items present: 1) There must be a planned attack. 2) The captive must know about the planned attack. 3) Torture must be the only way to obtain the information. 4) The captive must be persuaded to provide the information. 5) The information must be accurate. 6) If the information is obtained, there must be time and means to prevent the attack. The ticking time bomb scenario did not pertain to Abu Ghraib, since the detainees were merely Iraqi delinquents who did not have knowledge of future planned attacks on the United States by al Qaeda.

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

The torture has been used as one of the ways to obtain decisive information from people. The military and intelligence agency paid more attention to psychiatric research than the medical profession. They thought that it would be very effective if they can use psychological factors for interrogation. This technique was secretly developed by the intelligence agencies such as CIA and KGB, but little was known about it.

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

This article will discuss the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA's) Enhanced Interrogation Program that was created following the attacks of 9/11. This program violated not only domestic law but international law as well. First introduced will be the reasons for the initiation of the CIA’s interrogation program. Then this article will explain the “ticking time bomb” philosophical argument that validates torture. Next, It will discuss the violation of the constitutions eight amendment and the Geneva Conventions international rules that prohibit torture. Lastly, the effectiveness of the program will be analyzed to examine if the pain and infliction that the program caused were of any use to prevent imminent terror attacks.

Coercive interrogation does not work in producing timely, reliable, and life saving information. Thus far, much of the discussion in this area has been concerned with the procedural, legal, and philosophical issues raised by torture. Only very limited attention has been given to the issue of effectiveness. Even if one concludes that torture can sometimes be riddled with moral objections, the argument for coercive techniques depends on the assumption that torture is an effective means of obtaining information. This is a dubious assumption. Scientific investigations of torture as an effective tool of interrogation have found no evidence that it is effective. That conclusion comes from a 2006 report on torture by the Intelligence Science Board. If torture is not an effective means to deduce information from a suspect, it is difficult to justify torture, as many experts in the field agree, even if you assert that it is necessary in certain circumstances. In addition, even if torture may work, if there are other ways to elicit information, the use of torture is not necessary. Lastly, it is super counter intuitive and has the potential to lead to radicalization.

Furthermore, enhanced interrogation is useless because it does not pressure a detainee to speak the truth, but instead withholds precise and credible information from U.S federal agencies. In fact, according to 25 former interrogators and intelligence professionals from the U.S military say that, “ the application of psychological, emotional, and physical pressure can force a victim of torture to say anything just to end the painful experience. Neuroscience professor, shane O’mara says that” abusive interrogation techniques can “ compromise memory, mood, and eliciting accurate information, (O’mara).” Also, “The 1992 U.S. Army Interrogation Field Manual 34-52 states: “Experience indicates that the use of prohibited techniques is not necessary to gain the cooperation of interrogation sources, ( Interrogation Field Manual).” Use of torture and other illegal methods is a poor technique that yields unreliable results, may damage subsequent collection efforts, and can induce the source to say whatever he thinks the interrogator wants to hear, (CCR Justice).”

Torture is one of the most extreme methods of eliciting information; unfortunately, it has been used for centuries and is still prevalent worldwide.

The other strong argument which should be focused on is the effectiveness. The CIA claimed that this program was very effective in providing useful information, capturing the terrorist suspects, and predicting the terrorists’ plan for America. Notwithstanding concern of human right, more than half of America population believe that the use of torture was at least sometimes justified (Ronnie, 2007). Likewise, Rumney (2005) highlighted that torture is an excellent method to gather the information. In analysis of the benefit of torture, the evidence from the Vietnam wars showed that, the suspects were willing to confess if the tortured interrogation would stop (Anderson, 2004). Dershowitz (2002) shared the similar view that torture has produced

Cons of torture includes “inadequate methodology, misunderstanding time’s relation to interrogation, unreliable due to the subject’s uncooperative, and it violates the dignity of persons” (Wisnewski 136-158). Extreme physical and mental suffering is relatively probable to generate untruthful disclosure, falsified to escape further

Torture has been used secretly around the world for the purpose of gaining information. It is believed that humans are afraid of pain and we all are willing to do everything in order to alleviate the pain, so torture is viewed as one of the most effective interrogative techniques. It is often claimed by those who advocate torture that in critical situations, where a number of lives are at sake including your family members, torture should be used to extract information for lives-saving from the suspects. Nevertheless, there are many refutable points in this claim. It is true that in such situation, the truth is highly needed. However, the information gained through torture is undependable because the victims will only confess whatever the interrogators

Futuristic methods of tracking, investigation, and spying are constantly being created and information gathering continues to evolve. With such forward thinking technological advancement, it is almost jarring to see torture stand next to our other efforts. Torture is the world’s most primitive and vile method of information gathering, and it has gone on without proper attention for much too long. Nationally, torture efforts continue to be almost entirely unchecked and, even when reviewed, aren’t seen severely enough in the eyes of the public.