Tourture admissable as evidence?

Question

I know this was a little while ago now, but was linked to the damn 9/11 stuff.
Apparently this was the first case that evidence obtained under tourture was admissable, it's probably been discussed and everything but...
seems to me this is the US saying "we don't really care what you think, we think you did it"
after going through enough tourture someone will probably say anything!? is it me or is this just an insane thing?

what i'm on about tourture wise is whatever the US officials did to the guy who "confessed" to the 9/11 attacks, I'm not 100% sure of what they did to the guy, but I'm guessing it was a combination of mental and physical tourture.

cmdrbnd007 - don't get me wrong I wouldn't want another attack like that.
BUT..... what if he was actually innocent, but was tourtured in whatever way to be made to confess,

what would you take a quick death after a mock trial for something you didn't do, or to be tourtured to confess to something you didn't do untill your broken?

jmminnc - what if it was you? you'd been arrested and slapped round, how long would it take you to confess to something you didn't do if you were being tourtured

at the end of the day how does a false confession bring back the people who have died, how does it honour their memories?

Answer 1

The information in such cases is deemed admissiable to be admited as supporting evidence not primary. There has to be overwhelming primary evidence as the core of the prosecutions case. Information gained through duress can not be used if everything else is circumstantial.

What is considered torture is hard to define. Those conducting it realize that information gained in such a way is often unreliable. Yes if you hooked someone up to a car battery they will say anything. That is why (regardless of the waterboarding stuff on TV) the methods are more psychological. Like asking a number of questions in different ways over and over...... until the most accomplished lier or prepared story starts to show cracks. Once a loose thread presents it the interagator starts pulling on it. Now combine that with a varied sleep schedule....... is it torture or intense questioning?

As far as the prison in Iraq thing..... it was supposed to be psychological (like the dogs that Muslims hate) but unfortunatly the goverment allowed a bunch of ill trained natioanal guardsman to be involved.

Remember the thing where they caught all of these guys were going to down multiple planes going from London to the US? My mother flew on the day from there on the very day that they later found out it was scheduled...... and on one of the flights scheduled to be targeted. What if it was your family and say you had a guy that you pretty much knew had the info?

We are not dealing with an enemy of the sort that was fighting during the time the Geneva conventions came about. At that time it was men fighting men and killing women and children was abhorrent. There was honor of sorts.

Yes it would be great if this sort of thing was not necessary.... ever. But wether uneducated fighters in Iraq or doctors (like in the latest thing) they are firm in their beliefs..... that it is OK to harm citizens. Even the Irish when they would target a police station would call and say "you have 5 minutes to clear out". The Western way of thinking is different and most do not realize this fact. The only way to get any information from someone who does not care if they die is through physical and mental discomfort.

Answer 2

you're dead on. enough pain will incite someone to agree to anything just to make it stop. At the end of the Korean conflict some airmen were shot down, tortured and all confessed to crimes they did not commit. the Koreans used them for propaganda purposes. Amazingly, the military interviewed these men, concluded that torture doesn't serve the effort of seeking the truth then wrote a manual on how to "interrogate".

Answer 3

Its just you.
A. The United States doesn't torture in the conventionally sense of the word. We may make things uncomfortable for the terrorist but we don't pull off finger nails, we don't attach electrodes to genitalia, we don't suspend people from the arms for hours on end, and we don't beat people. All these and others have been used against American soldiers in past conflicts. What we may do is make it really cold, keep them awake for long hours, play loud music for extend periods of time and at worst water board them. All of these techniques are very useful in gathering information. Which brings me to
B. I really don't care what they use as long as they stop the scum bags from perpetrating another attack like 9/11.

Answer 4

Just who was tortured? When? How? Who was the evidence used against?

We are at war with people that are willing killing any one. If it takes slapping some terrorist around to stop a bomb from killing kids. Then GOOD. I willing to do it and SO WOULD YOU! If you were put in the same place.

Answer 5

i'm sorry Chloe, do you mean that a confession given while being tortured is being used in court?

no thats dead wrong, but some people consider Rap music torture, others, "Like my ex" loved it.

now we have to go on to define torture.........

Answer 6

When torture becomes acceptable to us, we are no longer the good guys.

Answer 7

they just took the constitution and pissed all over it again. then when it dried, they put it in a bag with poo and lit it on fire on everyone of our doorsteps.