Would you ever condone torture of suspected terrorists if you believed it would help keep Americans safe?

Question

There are many forms of torture that do not cause lasting physical damage, but inflict great psycological harm.

If you were in charge, and it was up to you, would you allow these tactics to be used against suspected terrorists?

What if you thought it was the only way to obtain the information that would prevent a large scale terrorist attack?

And what about this question... what about using torture against known and proven terrorists who are already in custody? People already convicted? Would you allow them to be tortured to get the information you need to stop a terrorist attack?

Personally, I would not condone torture in ANY of the above situations. I think it should never be used against anyone.

What do you think?

Answer 1

I condone killing terrorists if it helps keep Americans safe...

It's easy to say "NO, I don't condone it" when you're detached from the situation, you're not going to be held accountable for anything that happens with the war really.

But say... if you had a child that had been kidnapped... and you had this guy in custody that you felt very strongly had information that could help you find and possibly save the life of your kid... then would you condone his torture if he wouldn't freely give you that information?

Answer 2

Thanks for asking, however this is my view, you are asking a good question and at the same time a very trcky one. What I mean is this:
i). All persons especially from the so called civilised community condone torture of any nature.
ii). All sensble people advocate for peace.
Peace should come to us in the "right" way, where war is the inevitable option but not torture. Torture and genocide are in the same category though of different magnitude. Their effect never goes away, they linger on and while they last there cannot be any PEACE.

Answer 3

Depends on what you call torture. While I was a prisoner of war, I had the following inflicted on me:

Sleep deprivation
Isolation
Extreme cold
Confinement in a box the size of an orange crate
Strip search
And threats with a pistol

Is that torture? Or is that just making me uncomfortable and exhausted so that I'll be more likely to slip up and say something I should not?

By the way, I was not a real POW. This occurred in SERE camp sponsored by the U.S. Navy to prepare me for the possibility of becoming a real POW if captured in Vietnam. Even so, those "tortures" I listed were real. And all navy aviators en route to Vietnam had to undergo them.

Answer 4

the only problem with that thinking is that the american govt and many of its people see this as a one way thing. we can torture others to our hearts content to "save" america and american citizens...but if some other country does the same to one of us for whatever reasons they feel are valid...we are all pissed off and holier than thou about it and make a huge fuss in the United Nations and in the media....pot calling the kettle black and all that

torture is wrong.....let any one of those people doing the torturing endure it once and see what they feel about it afterwards.

Answer 5

Depends what you classify as a "suspected terrorist". Is a suspected terrorist EVERYONE with very tan skin that prays to Mecca? Or someone who was caught in the act of planning an attack - with hard proof of what he was doing.

One problem with the people at Gitmo for instance. Some of them have been there for 4 years now. How on earth would they have any info at all at this point regarding any possible terrorist attacks?

Answer 6

Abso freakin lutely. **** those assholes. I'd hang ten of their balls on a meathook in the middle of town square if I thought it would save one american life. When you're in the business with people that saw off heads and you catch the ones doing it, they should get their balls sawed off. 1) They don't have to pollute the earth with their offspring 2) It sets an example to the rest of those clowns that we mean business.

Answer 7

Inregards to Islamic terrorist.

I'd extract whatever info I could using any means possible.

Give them a bullet in the head and ship their body back in a pig skin for public display. Do this a couple hundred times and you'd see a different appreciation to Americans.

Answer 8

I would never resort to torture, it's terribly inhumane whether the person is guilty or not. I would leave it to God for punishment

Answer 9

no, certainly not when you say suspected. There's no point in fighting if you're the bad guy.

Answer 10

If you hurt someone enough long enough, you can get them to say anything.