On Torture by the US?

Question

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071021/ap_on_re_us/pows_torture;_ylt=AneLb56x.XdHfC7ENHmsZYrZa7gF
Ok, who thinks that torture is a value of the USA in anything but solitary confinement for a few months and carrot and stick tactics. not including threat of death. I can understand very rough treatment at the time of capture, because there is a real time value to information....but to water board someone months after their capture while in official custody..isn't that something we thought made the Axis powers evil during WW2. How can it make us into the good guys if we do it?

or is windwalker right that it isn't even America anymore?

ok witwarts...the president is redefining what torture is and it does include water boarding and threats of death months after capture and sending them to other countries that will do our dirty work for us...you poor simple minded sheep

I remember the Red Cross or some other international agency being denied access to the prisoners to see if their treatment was humane....the nazis didn't even do that

Argle Bargle your such a good little kitty...but stay away from my bird feeder or it's thee BB gun for you! jus' kiddin man

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/11/AR2007101101599.html

how can we expect our government to treat us humanely under the Constitution and our legal system if they seem to do whatever they want anyway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tnTXd1mb-A

Answer 1

1. Torture is unbelievably stupid. It leaves your own captured soldiers without even the flimsy cover of wartime protection laws. It is rarely applied to the right person(s) - that hypothetical terrorist with a nuclear bomb. It gives a gigantic amount of power to sadists in our own government. And will they stop using that power next week? Torture, like taxes, never goes away. Once it is allowed, no one is safe.

2. Torture is unbelievably unethical. It violates every law of God and Man you can think of. It lowers the value of every human being. It reduces us all to the level of criminals and accomplices. It makes us into losers with no chance of anything but a Pyrrhic victory. You may catch that one terrorist with his dirty bomb through torturing many people- but the survivors must live in a world that accepts infinite barbarism on a workaday basis. Is that winning?

3. Torture is unbelievably repugnant to any civilized nation. Soon the U.S. will find itself on one side of the fence with China, the Middle East, and the little dictatorships... and on the other side will be countries who can no longer deal with us in good conscience. Some European countries have already done away with their U.S. extradition treaties.

The U.S. is filled with people who have caved to propaganda and hate radio. They've taken up the cry that "the end justifies the means." This makes us 1) stupid, 2) unethical, and 3) repugnant.

We can still turn this around. But we'd better flippin hurry. If the perception gets out that America is truly a savage, rather than dumb enough to hire the wrong leaders for a while, we may never get our good guy image back.

And I was proud of that image.

Answer 2

Have you heard of the movie called Rendition? It isn't out yet but it's fact based on what the government calls extreme rendition. Which is when somebody in this country that could well be innocent, is kidnapped by G-men, and whisked away to another country and tortured just because they are suspected of being a terrorist or a sympathizer. A lot of them have been shown to be innocent, but they have not been protected under the constitution at all. The Constitution is completely ignored by the government, but they have been getting away with it for years.

Answer 3

I don't believe torture can result in nothing more that getting the answer you want to hear. It doesn't work, Senator McCain would be the first to tell you that from personal experience. His treatment was much worse than your article or water boarding.

Answer 4

The Brits did that to us, mate, and I can tell you for a fact - it did not work. All they would get was bad information and more determined enemies.

Answer 5

If given the choice between waterboarding, sleep deprivation etc. and having their heads hacked off I'm thinking even the Islamic nuts would avoid the latter.

Remember, these aren't the guys who volunteered to blow themselves up.

We're in a war with an enemy whose mindset is somewhere back in the 7th century. By rights we should be wrapping the bodies in pig skins and dropping them off at the local mosque in Baghdad or Tehran. Anything less shows weakness and lack of resolve.

Answer 6

It doesn't make us the good guys. So many countries look to us as an example, and this is the example that we are setting? It certainly doesn't give us a good name in the world.

Answer 7

It's despicable and disgusting. Just the fact we even have to talk about it is disgusting and despicable.

I really worry about the direction of this country - it seems the monsters are taking over and thirty percent of us actually support it.

*some are clueless enough to deny it. see below (withoutwits or something)

Answer 8

Torture isn't new in this country. We're just talking about it.

Answer 9

Terrorists are not soldiers, not freedom fighters. When caught they should be treated severely, and disposed of permanently

Answer 10

Republican "torture lowers taxes = torture is good!"
Republicans complain about spending our taxes on our own citizens for health care, but are silent about spending our taxes to torture people, mind you some of those people are completely innocent.