The term “Torture” derives from the Latin word “tortus” meaning “twisted. Torture involves the intentional infliction of physical or mental pain on a person to fulfill some desire of the perpetrator or to compel some action from the victim. The following are some general definitions of torture. 1. Torture is the act of inflicting excruciating pain, as punishment or revenge, as a means of getting a confession or information, or for sheer cruelty.…
Anne Applebaum states in “The Torture Myth”, that America has operated under the false pretense that torture is a viable option for obtaining information, and because terrorists are malicious, so America needs more aggression to win. She argues that torture hurts the country more than it benefits. Torture…
The government is known to do controversial actions when it comes to interrogation. The most controversial tactic is torture treatment. Torture treatment has always been around, but there have always been issues with it. The main issue is, is it constitutional? The eighth amendment states that no one is subject to cruel and unusual punishment.…
Marianne Szegedy-Maszak’s “The Abu Ghraib Prison Scandal: Sources of Sadism” and Dr. Zimbardo’s “The Stanford Prison Experiment” are not considered extremely recent; still they retain relevance and applicability today. Szegedy-Maszak proposes that the Abu Ghraib scandal possesses three key aspects conducive to a torture driven environment: authorization, routinization, and dehumanization. Szegedy-Maszak attempts to provide an explanation for the inhumane actions of American soldiers toward Iraqi prisoners. In attempting to determine the origins and requirements necessary for a human being to execute evil atrocities, Marianne Szegedy-Maszak focuses on the impact authorization exhibits to cause human beings to allow the power of situation to…
In the article, Report: CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques “brutal” and “ineffective” by Justin Scuiletti says that the enhanced interrogation techniques implemented by the CIA are not that effective with the detainees. The Attorney General John Ashcroft approved verbally the methods used as enhanced interrogation techniques on July 24, 2002. A report released by the Senate Intelligence Committee Tuesday announced the CIA’s use of several interrogation methods. In the report there were in total of ten interrogation techniques. After a few days, waterboarding was verbally approved.…
Civil Liberties, Habeas Corpus, and the War on Terror Habeas corpus is a way of determining whether those that are jailed have been jailed through the legal processes and if the reason behind the jailing is legal. This paper will discuss how the administration led by Bush kept prisoners at GITMO during the war on terror. The civil rights of the prisoners were never considered since the place where they were kept was beyond the reach of the constitution of the United States of America. It was the duty of the Supreme Court to protect the rights of the prisoners by the use of Habeas Corpus and given orders of the shutting down of GITMO facility. Habeas Corpus in English Traditions…
There is a thin line between torture, coercion, and persuasion. For some countries, torture is an adequate form of punishment used to not only instill fear, but to also show the consequences of prohibited actions to others. However, for the United States and other countries who have signed the Geneva Convention, torture is strictly prohibited, but is still practiced in different forms. The article “The Dark Art of Interrogation,” written by Mark Bowden, explores various interrogation techniques used throughout the War on Terror by the United States Military, the Israeli government, and the New York City Police force. Each of the agencies consistently agreed that using “hard torture” was “the classic shortcut for a lazy or incompetent investigator”(…
What would you do if your country kept secrets from you. The C.I.A. torture report was a report that should have been released much early that it was. This report explained the horrendous actions the C.I.A. took to extract information from prisoners of war of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack. There are many reasons why this report should have been released, but the most prominent reasons are the sanction of those responsible for this torture, and the right for the American people to know what the government is conducting under their name. There are also reasons why the report should have been released.…
Torture is now easier to justify in the context of the war on terror. Many opinions may arise when looking at whether or not we should torture potential terrorists and since there is not an actual strategy to proceed along when looking at it, the question still remains unanswered. The debate began after the incident in 9/11 had occurred and the government implemented several anti terrorism measures where justification was placed under the veil of Unitarianism. In the article “The torture debate” by Phillip Rumney and Martin O’Boyle they provide readers with complementary views on whether or not legalized systems of torture would be worth having. The authors also emphasize the issues that could result from having a torture of system since it could come with many implications.…
“We tortured some folks.” Barack Obama, President of the United States, said in response to the release of the CIA torture report when he addressed post-9/11 America. Senator Dianne Feinstein accused the CIA of spying on the Senate’s intelligence committee. John Brennan, director of the CIA, denied that accusation. However, an investigation brought forth the truth; the CIA had penetrated a computer network used by the Senate Intelligence Committee and found that the Senate was preparing a report that revealed information about the CIA’s detention and interrogation program.…
The administration made the category of “enemy combatants” in order to deprive detainees of the legal protections of either the U.S. courts or “prisoner-of-war” status. They tried to detain these enemy combatants, some of them American citizens, indefinitely without trial, and without the right to have courts review their cases. Bush announced that these terrorists were not protected by the Geneva Conventions, which prohibits cruel treatment and torture, and claimed that the torture provided important information for the safety of Americans. The safety of Americans was not however protected when their fourth amendment right to be secure against unreasonable government searches and seizures. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) requires that warrants for national security wiretaps be…
He recognizes that it is just for legislators to “impose corrective treatments and penalties on anyone who does vicious actions” (1113b24-25), torture for the sake of gaining information is not a penalty or a corrective treatment. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the end or purpose of waterboarding the leaders of al Qaeda was to best understand “[how the terrorists’ are taught] to resist interrogations, gather information on the enemy, carry out kidnappings and assassinations, follow security precautions, and organize safe houses and hiding places” (Leopold). Aristotle would say that it is good to protect the city, however, the intention of these ends are not fully aimed at virtue. Understanding how the terrorists learned to resist interrogation would allow U.S. forces to compose a more accurate form of torture geared towards the terrorists. CIAThis does not aim at a virtue, rather Aristotle may even classify this act of finding a more effective form of torture as vicious.…
Responsibility for prisoner abuse in Iraq continues to bring down the military. Maintaining Presidential Deniability is a big thing. The CIA offers to take the blame on things. President Bush proclaimed that he would never condone torture because “the values of this country are such that torture is not part of our soul and our being.” Sixty-three percent say that torture is not acceptable, while the other 37 percent say yes.…
Levin’s hypothetical leads to the illogical “A Case For Torture” is an essay written by Michael Levin in which he tries to make a compelling case for the use of torture as a punishment during certain situations in the United States. One of the ways Levin tries to logically prove his argument is by citing different real life situations; some examples are situations that actually occurred, but most are hypothetical situations. The use of hypothetical situations is meant to help direct the reader to understand the applications of Levin’s policy on torture. With that, Levin is not convincing in his argument as he relies too heavily on the hypothetical. Michael Levin in “A Case For Torture” is not logically convincing in his discussion as to why…
Since the article “The Case for Torture” by Michael Levin was published in Newsweek in 1982, it has stirred up many debates regarding the universal use of torture. Levin believes that torture is justifiable in extreme cases such as preventing terrorism to save lives. Levin argues by giving examples of make-believe scenarios in which the only two options given are to either meet the demands of the terrorist or to torture the terrorist so that innocent lives can be spared; however, Levin’s argument is flawed because he never fully defines the boundaries which can be placed on the concept of torture that would ensure that the use of torture is not abused. He believes that the best way to address a problem in which one wants an immediate result…