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Torture is basically any act of suffering and inflicting pain that can take the form of both physical and mental in its nature. This pain is normally inflicted intentionally on a person, usually to persuade and make the person perform according to the requirements of the torturer.
The concept and ethicality in terms of justifying torture are of crucial importance, especially nowadays in the light of the recent events regarding the terrorist attacks in the United States and in the United Kingdom. The prisoners of war, as well as the suspected terrorists, are definitely tortured to extract useful sensitive information from them; however, it has to be concluded whether these acts of torture are justifiable or not.
Many people are of the opinion that in highly dangerous cases, it is okay to resort to torture or prisoners of war and suspected terrorists as it means that the state will be torturing one person to save the lives of hundreds and thousands of people. They believe that if the suspect does not provide the required information through normal interrogation, then torturing them to get access to the information is considered justifiable. Most of the examples quoted by those who support torture pertain to an incident of a time bomb that is clicking away. Under these circumstances, they believe that it is justifiable to torture suspected for wheedling out information concerning future plans of attacks as well as any associations, etc.
The Geneva Convention clearly states the principles according to which the Prisoners of War should be treated and the nonjustification of torture on the incumbent as a form of interrogation technique. However, in the past few years, the world has been able to witness through leaks in the media as well as other mass communication mediums that George W. Bush’s policy is mostly to overrule and disregard the guidelines of the Geneva Convention. Author Christopher Kutz of the article ‘Torture, Necessity and Existential Politics’ mentioned in his works that torture is actually essential and important as a form of interrogation tool in desperate cases. The author defends the torture-based policies of George W. Bush, stating that even according to the constitution and the Bybee memo, torture is considered a legal form of application and tool for interrogation. “If the expected value of information extracted through torture is high enough to outweigh the expected disvalue of the materialized threat about which intelligence is sought, then torture could be justified.” (Kutz, 2007) the author also went on to say that in highly sensitive times, the president of the country has the authority to advise his agents on the use of torture in order to extract information from the charged prisoner.
Personally, however, I am against the concept of torture. I do not support the use of torture in any circumstances as the moral and ethical technicalities associated with it are too blurred, and the justification of the cat leads to unanswerable questions and repercussions n the future. Moreover, torture does violate the principles of the United States, as a result countering what the United States has long been standing for,.i.e., freedom, justice, equality, and human rights. As a result use of torture event by the United States would be seen as hypocritical as well as an issue of double standards.
Aside from this, the results of torture can be devastating as well as the people on which it is inflicted can harbor extreme resentment against the torturers, which can only lead to more terrorism in the future. Many critics of torture have established specific guidelines and principles according to which the torturers should be punished for their acts. These principles are mainly based on the fact that using torture usually degrades the moral fiber in society and does not provide any worthwhile information with integrity.
The concept of torture is very similar to that of capital punishment. In most states around the world, as well as n United States of America, capital punishment as a form of repercussion for crimes has been prohibited on moral and ethical grounds. On a similar note, torture should also be banned as, according to principle as well as practice, it is highly immoral and unjustifiable, no matter what the circumstances dictate. “Torture is so heinous and vile an activity that relevant standards of necessity and proportionality simply cannot, in practice, be met. How, it is argued, can we be certain that the person we have in custody is really a terrorist? How can we be sure that there are further actions planned for the future, or, even if there are, that the person we have captured has any knowledge of them? And how can we be confident of the reliability of anything he might tell us under torture?” (McMahan, 2006)
Another factor that raises questions pertaining to the effectiveness of torture is that the victim of torture usually tends to agree to the accusations and may provide false information to the torturer in order to simply put a stop to the acts of torture being performed on him. “Many critics of torture claim that it is ineffective as well as repugnant. Since people will say anything just to stop the pain, the information gleaned may not be reliable. (‘Is Torture Ever Justified’, 2007)
References
“Is torture ever justified”, Economist, (2007), Vol. 384 Issue 8547, pp. 71-72.
Kutz, C., “Torture, Necessity and Existential Politics”, California Law Review, (2007), Vol. 95 Issue 1, p235-276.
McMahan, J., “Torture, Morality, and Law”, Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law, (2006), Vol. 37 Issue 2/3, p241-248.
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