Is Torture ALWAYS wrong?

Question

If for example you had in your hands a guy who knew exactly where Bin laden was and if he told you we could possibly save thousands of lives. Lives of innocent people, lives of soldiers and the lives of the terrorist supporters are all valuable and worthy of saving.

Would you condone the torture of that one man to end the misery and death of thousands of others.

Truthful answers please. We KNOW torture is wrong - but is it always wrong?

Answer 1

I do not believe that torture is always wrong.

In the circumstance you lay down in the question - the guy should without doubt be made to reveal the information he has - if that means holding his feet in a fire then so be it.

But torture is wrong as part of a judicial system.

Answer 2

There may be a rare exception as the ticking time-bomb argument suggests. Hypothetically, if a terrorist has to be tortured to reveal information that results in stopping a nuke from going off, then that is clearly a justifiable case. But that certainly wasn't the case at Abu Ghraib. Legislating torture and widespread implementation of torture during interrogations will only radicalize moderate Muslims even more, creating a more dangerous environment for our country and troops.

Answer 3

Wrong is wrong. It's like being a 'little' pregnant... either you are or you aren't. Besides, for every Osama Bin Laden you kill, there are dozens waiting to replace him. The only way to settle these things is for every man to sit down, have a beer and shut up while the women of the world work out the details. When they finally come to an agreement, all the men need to smile and say, "Yes, Dear". World united. Problem solved.

Answer 4

Your question is a subset of "does the end justify the means?"

Yes, torture by many laws is wrong. However, does the end result justify the use of torture? Most laws would say yes. Afterall, justifications of abortion, capital punishment, war, and environmental damage on a large scale (which some might argue to be far worst) have been done.

So in general, torture is wrong but it is done anyway to achieve what is required.

Answer 5

Sometimes you have to do what's wrong. Sometimes you have to go against what you believe in, and do the painful thing, or the difficult thing, or the "wrong" thing.

Life doesn't always work according to our made-up rules. It's always wrong to torture, but it's also always wrong to allow others to die unnecessarily. It's also always wrong to do nothing when you know you could save others.

It's the same with the whole question of war, isn't it? War is always wrong. It's always painful, difficult, and really, the most evil thing that nations can do to each other. But there are times when it has to be done.

Sometimes you have to do the wrong thing.

Answer 6

Torture is never right... There are other ways to get information besides torture. To redirect the question a little bit, If you had information that someone wanted very badly would you wish to be tortured... Even if the information was very important? If the answer is no then why would you wish to do it to someone else?

Answer 7

Yes! Torture is always wrong, to willingly and knowingly harm another being is always wrong. I know that you believe that he is doing wrong to his people as well as ours, but since when do two wrongs make it right.
You also have to realize that Bin laden, much like Hitler, Rose out of a collective corniness. He exists because we allow for him to exist. He has weapons because we gave them to him, he knows how to fight because we taught him.
I do not think that punishing his minions because of him is right, just like what he did (or what we believe he did) wasn't right.

Answer 8

NO if there was no other way and I knew this person DID have the information, otherwise there would be reasonable doubt and an Innocent would suffer and that is not OK.
Hope that helps ~A~

Answer 9

It's only wrong to sorry @ss liberals. Sometimes torture is absolutely necessary to protect the Nation.

Answer 10

Yes