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In considering whether torture is justified when used for national security, I will use several arguments in this essay.
The first is that it is an unreliable source. Despite torture being repulsive and illegal, the technique is often used for gathering information which many people think it makes it just. Many people use the ‘ticking time bomb, reference when defending torture, stating that to torture one individual to get information that could potentially save hundreds is lawful and justifiable. However, the stressors that are employed during the torture process force the brain out of its adaptive range of function it operates within. Torture increases rates of false positive discoveries and fails the basic tests of definitive, reliable, and replicable information discovery. Torture fails during interrogation because it is a direct assault on our core integrated social, psychological, neural functioning.
For example, one of the most commonly used types of torture is sleep deprivation. Sleep deprivation is an especially deceitful form of torture because it attacks the deep biological functions at the core of someone’s physical and mental health. Due to the direct attack on the persons mental health, sleep deprivation has often led to false confessions and hallucinations. Steven Frenda (a professor at California State University) states: “In an experiment, participants were asked to complete computer tasks across multiple sessions. During the sessions they repeatedly received warnings that pressing the Escape key on their keyboard would cause the loss of study data. In their final session, participants either slept all night in laboratory bedrooms or remained awake all night. In the morning, all participants were asked to sign a statement, which summarized their activities in the laboratory and falsely stated that they pressed the Escape key during an earlier session. After a single request, the odds of signing were 4.5 times higher for the sleep-deprived participants than for the rested participants”. These results replicate the number of false convictions made from using sleep torture for interrogation.
Recently the current U.S president, Donald Trump, defended the most popular type of interrogation torture ‘waterboarding’ by stating: “Even if it doesn’t work? They deserve it anyway, for what they’re doing”. And the following statement: “Build these iron cages, and they’ll put 20 people in them, and they drop them in the ocean for 15 minutes, and pull them up 15 minutes later”. These statements were made during a conference due to the U.S doubling down on disturbing torture techniques that have already been proven not effective and simply an inhumane way to target and discriminate against a certain race, which in this case was Muslim. The technique Trump was raving about is no other than the infamous ‘waterboarding’ technique. This is a technique that has been classified as one of the most dangerous tortures in the current time due to the fact that the victim is repeatedly brought to the edge of death only to be ‘revived’. The victim is bound securely to an inclined bench (the person’s feet are usually raised), then a cloth is placed over the victim’s eyes and forehead, and water is applied to the cloth in a controlled manner. Gradually the air becomes more and more restricted due to the cloth, increasing the carbon dioxide levels in the victim’s blood, creating the perception of drowning. Like other techniques waterboarding is directed at a certain part of the body, in this case the respiratory system is under siege. However, in order for this technique to extract reliable information, one most hope that the oxygen deprivation will not affect the brain, which studies show, happen most commonly in this situation. The deficits include cognitive memory, visual and verbal memory, processing speed, etc. Therefore, if the victim’s memory is unstable or affected, there’s a greater chance of false claims and false convictions. The neurological studies and data prove that the concept of torturing the truth out of someone is unethical and unreliable.
The second argument is that torture is a slippery slope. This is the fact that the torture we do now makes us more desensitized to torture in the future. Think back to when you had your first paper cut, it seemed like the end of the world at the time. Now think of the most recent paper cut you’ve had, you probably just brushed it off put a Band-Aid on it and continued with your day. This is an example of being desensitized due to repetition and time. It’s just like becoming a surgeon. The thought of slicing open someone else’s flesh and looking at their insides is what any sane person would describe as gruesome and potentially revolting. However, the more times the surgeon conducts the procedure, the more ordinary the thought becomes, not only to the surgeon, but to society. When we hear a relative is getting surgery, we don’t give a second thought about it, but in the early stages of medicine, the idea must have seemed terrifying. The same thing will happen to the procedure of torture. If we start doing it now and continue, in the future we will be desensitized to the idea and think of it the same as surgery of eating an orange, because the proceeds have become a part of life. Ordinary. We as a society have already started down this slope with video games and simulations that have desensitized anyone who plays it to the idea of violence. Torture will become part of everyday life and at best be frowned upon, like not returning someone’s wallet you found on the ground, or having more of a feast than testing grapes in a store. All minor things that we know happen and accept it as a part of society. Iain Banks (highly respected Scottish author) stated: “Torture is such a slippery slope; as soon as you allow a society or any legal system to do that, almost instantly you get a situation where people are being tortured for very trivial reasons”. It starts with the torture only in ‘ticking time bomb situations’, then it leads to the legalization of torture in criminal interrogation, which then leads to the legalization of torture in suspected criminal activities. And just like cutting someone’s else’s flesh in the process of surgery is someone’s job, torture will become someone’s job as well.
And the last argument: torture harms not only the victim, but also the torturer himself. Even though torture is directed to hurt and violate the victim, the torturers get hurt as well. The two common effects on the torturers are burnout and PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). Symptoms of burnout, which is also known as vicarious trauma, include: difficulty managing emotions, feeling emotionally numb or shutting down, difficulty sleeping or oversleeping, physical problems, losing a sense of meaning in life, relationship problems, excessive worrying increased irritability or aggression, and destructive coping or addictive behaviors. As you might have noticed these symptoms are also very common in PTSD, generally occur from the work conditions. These symptoms most commonly develop after the ‘work’ is done, and most torturers develop PTSD after the work as well. At first thought of PTSD we usually link it to veterans and soldiers of war, however PTSD in torturers is considerably different, because it is usually caused by the overwhelming guilt and shame of the torturers actions. This sense of detachment often leads them to self-medicate with alcohol, drugs, and suicide. Other difficulties of the struggling from PTSD as a torturer is the inability to talk about your actions and experiences, which eliminates the coping factors of psychotherapy and getting medication. Tony Lagouranis was a former torturer during World War II and was in charge of actively interrogating detainees. He states, while he was actively interrogating detainees, he realized he had gone too far when he went and asked the Nazis for tips. He states that he realizes his sense of what was right and wrong was blurred and still questions his sense of self. He further describes his internal conflicts, nightmares, and flashbacks he struggles with to present day. He also describes the power he once felt is now replaced with “a weakness so fearful it dampened his upper lip”. Another former torturer, Eric Fair, experienced similar systems as the ones I first described. He described his nightmares of the previous people he had tortured. During his time in Iraq, he was ordered to deprive a detainee of sleep by forcing him to stand in a corner and strip his clothes hourly. He states that this detainee now haunts his nightmares nightly. He also states his struggles with overwhelming guilt due to the fact that he realizes that he “failed to disobey a meritless order”, “failed to protect a prisoner in my custody”, and “failed to uphold the standards of human decency by not protecting the detainees he tortured”. And for this he believes he can never forgive himself. These two men are just two representations of the suffering on the other end as well. This proves that by not justifying torture, we are just hurting everyone. There is no winner and there never will be. All torture brings to our world is suffering, there is never triumph, only suffering. To believe that torture is answer is like thinking another war will stop the war at hand.
For all these reasons, I conclude that torture is never justifiable, therefore in not justified when used for national security.
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