Torture is wrong because it doesn’t work. Societies must, at times, walk into questionable moral territory, but when that happens, you should at least get results. With torture, you don’t. The confessions obtained are no good, and the enemies you create in the process will be highly motivated, and knock back at you hard.
First point, torture is useless: In the age of instant communication, whenever an Al Qaeda operative is picked up and detained, you can be sure that every plan involving that detainee will be changed within a few moments of his detention. These days, changing strategy wouldn’t even require a phone call about the detention. A twitter between comrades will do the trick. Indeed before you have time to muster your most menacing voice and start waving cattle prods in someone’s face, you can be sure that word has gone out about the arrest. These days, no act of war takes place in an outpost. Nothing takes place in the dark. They know what we’re doing, and will adapt according to whom we’ve picked up and questioned.
Here’s another reason why torture doesn’t work: All that information you need so badly that you’re willing to torture to get it? Well, that information will be altered by the fact of your torturing. By torturing, you’ve changed people’s plans, made new enemies, and motivated new sectors of a society to take action against you. When you torture someone, you want information: “Tell us about your friends. What are they planning?” Well, by torturing someone, you’ve just created more of such people. Torture creates an entire family of new believers ready to die to avenge the tortured. So anything you might learn from such a venture is already outdated. By torturing you’ve brought others into the loop, created more flashpoints, more potential destruction, more people you’ll have to arrest, and more people who’ll want to get back at you at any cost. Torturing may not create armies, but it motivates them, motivates armies of brothers and sisters, nephews and cousins of the tortured, ready to do whatever it takes to bring you to your knees.
The reason why unleashing such emotionally-charged fresh enemies is such a bad idea is because in today’s world, war has no “front,” no “line of battle.” What is war today? War amounts to facing the realization that any motivated person with a physics degree and a little luck can blow up a city of his choosing, any time, day or night. That means the only honest goal of warfare is to try to limit the number of people who are angry enough to want to do that. Torture creates more of them.
C. Jiren
This article appears in Apr 30 – May 6, 2009.
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No, sorry. The argument that torture is wrong because it doesn’t work is just morally bankrupt.
Torture is wrong because it’s cruel and inhumane. The aim of torture is to turn its victim into someone who is completely isolated, overwhelmed, terrorized, and humiliated. And if someone is permanently broken as a result, physically or mentally, that’s just gravy on top. Despite all the rationalizations, torture is not an investigative tool, it’s a punishment. A cruel and inhumane punishment inflicted in the dark without trial or due process.
Torture is *never* acceptable. Not even if it “works” to achieve some bogus objective.
An across-the-board death sentence for all criminal behavior may “work” to eliminate much criminal activity. Killing people as soon as they pass their 70th birthday may “work” to solve any future social security issues. Euthanizing sick poor people may “work” to eliminate the health care crisis (at least for the non-poor). Authorizing the casual use of nuclear weapons may “work” to make our military an even more powerful and feared force in the world.
All of these may work. But they’re all still immoral and obscene.
And if the morality argument is not convincing enough, torture also violates international laws that are both binding on all states because it’s considered an exceptional crime against humanity AND binding on the U.S. specifically because Article VI of our Constitution clearly states that “all treaties made under the authority of the United States shall be the supreme law of the land”.
Have either of you ever been to the Middle East? Or any other country that has vastly different beliefs than those of us here in the United States? The majority of citizens in any country want to live in peace and harmony. They do not want to face war, or be held hostage by members of their own country, until they comply with rebel factions.
But the reality is that there are people in this world who do not care about human suffering, torture, rape, murder, etc. They use those tactics to gain control. And the reality is–those same people will use those same tactics on the United States, or any other country they see as a threat to their beliefs and desire for control. You are correct–torture is a crime against humanity–but that does not stop these terrorists from using it.
Come on people. If we were fighting a war where everyone followed the “rules” this would be a far different war. But terrorists use cowardly ways to attack unarmed and innocent civilians. Soldiers fighting soldiers–following international laws–that’s a fair war. That is not where we are! Our military cannot and should not be expected to play by the rules, while the “other side” breaks every rule in the book. This comcept is as simple as you going into a game of football with your playbook, and finding out the other team doesn’t play by any rules. Your team is at a total disadvantage. My understanding is that our so-called “torture tactics” have not killed or seriously injured anyone. Yes, they are designed to be extremely uncomfortable, and I would guess that if they did not work to extract vital information, we would have abandoned them in favor of other tactics.
I have traveled far and wide. I don’t believe that all countries should be carbon copies of the United States. I think they should be alloed to run their country/government according to the laws of their lands. But when someone attacks or threatens the security of the United States, or Her citizens, I stand behind any tactics we have to use to keep our country safe.
World Traveler,
Very short sighted comments. “I stand behind any tactics we have to use to keep our country safe.” Seriously?! What if we had to remove the second ammendment? Freedom of speech?
The President and federally elected officials swear to protect the Constitution, not cowardly people who would give their rights and souls away for a mistaken feeling of safety. If we don’t follow the laws that make us unique, we will lose those things that make us Americans. By the way, people have probably died after having been tortured in our custody. http://www.aclu.org/intlhumanrights/gen/21236prs20051024.html
God knows the United States has always played by the rules, Napalm, Agent Orange, to say nothing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Nothing objectionable there.
Seriously World Traveler, you should take off the blind fold when you look at your own country.
Well said World Traveler. Too bad liberal anger is so misplaced. Where is the outrage against the brutal and barbaric tactics being unleashed upon our men and women in uniform every day by followers of the “religion of love and peace”, Islam?
“World Traveler” your argument holds no merit. By the same logic we would justify our police murdering because they pursue murders, raping in the name of finding rapists, stealing to catch thieves. None of those things we condone. Why? Because the end result is a corrupt government and morally bankrupt society.
Torture is immoral and contrary to every principle this country was founded on, plain and simple.
Plain and simple the US broke not only their laws, they broke international law and I for one want to see them nailed on it! Put the blame where the blame lies, with the people who made the orders from the top….. godless, hypocrits