Torture Debate

[piasharn]

Since the subject seems to be rampant these days, I decided to make my position on the matter clear: I do not think that we should engage in torture under any circumstances.

Ultimately, coming to this conclusion had little to do with ethics and morals. If the U.S. is going to be a World Leader and stand as an example, we should not condone the torture of prisoners. If we invade a country and oust its leaders because they are bad people, then we should not sink to the levels of barbarianism that we condemn them for. It's hypocritical and demeaning and will only cause the rest of the world to lose respect for us.

Mind you, I am not one of those bleeding-hearts that have been mocked in recent political cartoons. I do not believe that the prisoners should be swaddled and cossetted. They do not need every comfort under the sun, but they should have food, water, clothing, protection from the elements, and so on.

Oh, I know all the "what if..." arguments. What if torturing one person saves the lives of thousands? What if torturing prisoners alerts us to a new terrorist attack? What if torturing al Queda members leads us to where bin Laden is hiding*? Etcetera. Ad nauseum.

One can go on in this vein for years. "What if..." scenarios are endless and unlikely. Yes, there is a chance that information gathered from a tortured individual could be useful, but the chances are greater that it will be bogus.

This, then, is my main reason for not supporting the act of torture. When people are tortured, they will often say anything to make the torture stop. Look at the witch hunts that took place in Europe and the United States in past centuries. Numerous people were tortured and subsequently admitted to acts of witchcraft when they were innocent of the crimes they were accused of. Nor is this the only example we have of torture leading to false confessions.

Far from alerting us to a new attack, the information garnered from such actions will more likely send us on a wild goose chase with the result that we spend time, energy, and money on false information while said resources could be used elsewhere.

Morality aside, torture doesn't work, plain and simple.

* Except we'd get him cornered only to have our dear leader order us to let him go so we can invade an unrelated country again.