“Most Americans Say Torturing Suspected Terrorists Is Justifiable.”
The current views on torture are absolutely appalling, and I will prove to you why. However, before anything is to be said, it is important to look at what the facts tell us about torture, then talk about why torture is a problem.
The first case, which reviewed the use of torture on suspected terrorists post 9/11, is known as the Panetta Review. This review is a series of memos which documented the use of torture and its outcomes. As it turns out, the Panetta Review confirmed that the use of torture did not result in saving any lives from potential terrorist attacks. The report continued to explain that the majority of detainees who underwent torture either disclosed nothing or gave false information.
Torturing suspected terrorists ignores these funny things we have called rights from a tricky piece of paper called our constitution. Oh, wait, I can already hear the bigots argue that our constitutional rights are only for citizens even when it’s our government doing the crime.
Does being American make us more of a person than someone else?
Without rights to decide if these people were even guilty, at least 26 of the CIA’s estimated 119 detainees who were tortured were “wrongfully held”. Furthermore, at least 17 detainees were tortured without the approval from CIA headquarters. What is the point of rights again? Maybe to stop an abuse of power? Oh, but never mind that only counts for Americans.
Without rights to adequately test whether or not someone is guilty of a crime we’re no better than the people from the Salem witch trials. Continuing to torture, especially when it can’t be justified because it has been proven to be ineffective, is a human rights violation and it disregards all standards that make us better than the bad guys.
With is being an election year, it’s important to view what our presidential candidates have to say about the issue. Donald Trump has called for expanding the use of waterboarding and more extreme methods of torture in order to extract information from suspected terrorists. He really does feed off ignorance.
Next Ted Cruz, as the slick politician he is, says that he is against torture, but he does not say what constitutes torture. At first glance he appears to be a decent person, then thoughts may change when you realize that he doesn’t even consider waterboarding to be torture.
Hillary Clinton says her view on torture is generally a no but, in typical Hillary fashion, she added that sometimes it may be necessary. Last but not least, Bernie Sanders says that he would not support torture without exception. I guess no detainees would be “feeling the bern” under the Sanders campaign.
Overall, we should not support torture for many reasons which include the fact that it blatantly does not work, and it is against basic human rights. To add to the problem, one of our presidential candidates will have to address the use of torture which will show the international community what the U.S stands for.
At what point do we finally look into the mirror and start to question if we still act like the good guys?