Being against torture, does that make a person a "liberal" or a "conservative"?

Answer 1

It just makes you human. Like being against Child Abuse, or rape. You don't win any awards simply for doing what's obviously right.

Answer 2

Some people simply cannot stomach the reality of a war. So some simply cannot see what torture does when you are trying to get information out of someone who holds secrets that could save innocent lives. As far as I am concerned if I suspected any of the prisoners in Guantanamo I would make the room very, very cold, starve and sleep deprive him, and then do my business until I either get what I want from the prisoner or move onto the next. I am sick of seeing these prisoners get their way and get all this sympathy, how if they were not there they would be back in their terrorist groups trying to kill us!

Not like the people over here have to go through the actual torturing process. Just too much time on their hands and they find another thing to protest about.

They seem to forget what happens to POWs on the other side. At least we aren't cutting off heads or worse to ours. We are just trying to get information from them to help prevent more attacks and to get even more information to help us in capturing or stopping more terrorists.

So liberal or conservative, the ones who are against it, half the time don't even truly know why they are. They just see it as something bad, but have no idea how effective it can be.

Answer 3

Being against torture makes you a moral human being, and is not a reflection of your political standing. But how you choose to define torture is. There are tactics that can be used to expel vital information from the enemy. If these tactics do not do any permanent damage to the person being questioned, then it is not torture. If the person being question is not denied basic human needs (food, water, etc.), then it is not torture.

Answer 4

Basically, liberals oppose all oppressions, and conservatives resist needless ones.
So, conservatives, being practical, favour modern tortures against trained enemies of their country, as long as the torture works (eg does not extort false answers).
Liberals rightly oppose turture as both a cruelty to the victim and a corruption of the inflictor.

Answer 5

I don't think that a persons stance on torture determines their political affiliation.

A person against torture might be considered a humanitarian or even a Christian and could be a member of any political party.

Answer 6

Is cutting off peoples heads torture? Do these Al Queda abide by Geneva Convention Rules? Maybe they should be tickled into giving up their terrorist plots. It is war not a tea party!

Answer 7

I saw an O'Reilly factor where Bill seemed to think it Un-American to disagree with torture. There was a retired Army Colonel who he had on to debate the issue of how Iran was handling the captured British sailors. She said that the U.S. shouldn't be on the offensive until it has started treating their POW's better and stopped the torture. O'Reilly of course cut her mic and went into a rant.

Answer 8

As a retiree of the military I oppose torture, it doesn't work and the answers provided by the individual cannot be trusted because his answer has been coerced.

Answer 9

If being against torture is even a debatable issue, this country is doomed.

Answer 10

that would make you a liberal


FDR didn't beat them--water board them--sleep deprive them--blast loud music at them

(IHRC notes that the pictures released today of men being shackled, gagged, blindfolded with taped over goggles, masked and forced to kneel are reminiscent of the treatment meted out in concentration camps. This is the type of action that Nazis would be proud of, and as such not something the any government should support. )

all he did was contain them