America makes a bad mistake by resorting to torture?

Question

America is known over the years for acting out of loving motives. A lot of people the world over recognise this and look to America as the great hope. Now by an aberration some in America have been pushed towards immoral methods such as torture and secret prisons. Any 'gains' through these methods are lost many times over by their disheartening effect inside and outside the USA. America is much better than this, and the poverty of these methods needs to be exposed. What do others think?

Answer 1

The use of violent or inhumane torture only galvanizes your enemy. The information gathered by use of coercive methods is poor quality and the means used, demoralize your own troops.
However, humane methods of breaking down the mind do not demoralize your troops and weaken the resolve of the enemy combatant.
Sleep deprivation is one such method that weakens the mind and has no long lasting effect on the person, It is exceedingly uncomfortable and will tax the mind enough that it can easily make mistakes and release information.
Because it is considered uncomfortable and sustainable, it is a form of torture.
The information gathered with this form of manipulation has saves many lives from the intentional violence produced by these people.
I don't have a problem with information extraction by means of humane methods such as sleep deprivation or drugs that provide a temporary stupor, as long as it is handled with respect for their health and humanity.
As for the Geneva convention, I have never read the "rules of war" why does it not apply to criminals? why does it not apply to street gangs? why does it not apply to terrorists? does the criminal action of one person absolve the other of his moral code? I don't believe so. If an act is wrong, are the actions of a nation somehow more ethical than a criminal?
Morality is for the benifit of the person who practices it. It is not something we put on for an occasion.
I do believe that we should always act moraly, and I believe that a limited form of torture can be moral.

Answer 2

I agree that resorting to torture has hurt our foreign image, however, the well-publicized actions of the CIA since WWII have been destroying our image overseas for a long time prior to this. In Iran, for example, we orchestrated the removal of their leader, Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh, and his replacement by the Shah Reza Pahlavi, which the Iranians have never forgotten nor forgiven. Just because we tend to overlook our faults doesn't mean that others do. A similar coup arranged by the CIA in Guatemala paved the way for more such actions in Latin America, and our reputation there has suffered as a result. Of course, U.S. corporations engaging in "Dollar Diplomacy" go back farther than WWII, and they too have tarnished our image. Torture just seems like the next step in an increasingly belligerent relationship with the rest of the world.

Answer 3

Torture is a violation of the Geneva Convention and the US must be tried by the International Court of Justice for committing this irregularity to extract information from prisoners.

Answer 4

What are they supposed to do, good cop bad cop? That works on criminals because they care if they live or die. Terrorists don't care if they die and a US prison (as bad as they are) is a hundred times better than some of them lived at home. I think that their torture should include everything from water boarding to being made to eat pork at every meal. Oh and since they hate women so much and want them to cover their bodies all their guards should be female. They should show as much skin as possible since the terrorists find it offensive. Anything we can do to get information or punish them we should do.

Answer 5

I think you are right, of course.

No torture can be justified by our government. They will tell you it is necessary to win the war on terror, but it is not a war that can be won...




g-day!

Answer 6

Look, if cold rooms, dunking heads under water, and slaps on the back of the head passes for torture these days, ARREST MY OLDER BROTHER AND SISTER! Cause apparently they're masters of torture.

Answer 7

There is no more or less torture than in wars of the past. It just seems to get hyped more these days because of it being the Information Age

And besides, it doesn't really bother me if they pull out a terrorists fingernails. I approve. The rest of the world just needs to mind their own business, just because they are pansies doesn't mean we Ameicans are.

Answer 8

I agree...