Torture
Essay Preview: Torture
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“Lying naked on a rack
With a chain and collar around my neck
Over my head is a sack
My body is a bruised and bloodied wreck
What day it is escapes me
Im tired but they wont let me sleep
They come again to rape me”
— Moe Mohammad
Does this treatment seem necessary? Chains and collars, sleep deprivation and rape? Unfortunately, this type of treatment happens everyday, commonly known as torture. The world has come to such extremes of interrogation and negotiation that torture seems the only option. Seemingly, people overlook other options to rush to the harshest of punishments. I am opposed to the use of torture during interrogation because it rarely produces useful information and goes against the principles which we are trying to defend.
“Treat others the way you would like to be treated.” Ring a bell? Everyone remembers that from grade school. For some reason, as some people grow up, they forget the “Golden Rule”. Does it seem logical to not follow this rule? Would not things be a lot more peaceful and productive if society would stick with this one simple statement?
Now, would you say torture is how you want to be treated? The United States has become the number one exporter of torture in the world today (Whitney). The CIA has allegedly authorized many tactics that could be used for torturing, including sleep deprivation and forced standing. Also used is exposure to cold, and something referred to as “waterboarding”, a technique in which interrogators immerse or pour water over a detainees face until he believes he will suffocate or drown, is intended to cause a victim to believe he is about to die, and therefore amounts to a mock execution. (Descriptions of Techniques Allegedly Authorized by the CIA)
I say, that is not very nice Mr. Bush.
Considering all the trouble that interrogators go through to torture these people, do they not realize there is a little flaw in their plan? Detainees will surely lie and make a sincere enough confession just to get the torture to stop. Meanwhile, the interrogators think they have information, but are really even more lost than before. The whole idea is just pointless. Even if the detainees are tortured, they still might not tell the truth. If they are not going to give up any information to be of use, why bother torturing them? Its cruel and inhumane, the events some detainees must go through. Recall what one man had to go through:
” …I found you could be tortured for accusing them of using torture. Torture is methodically applied pain to produce a wearing effect — to make you submit. Usually the pain would reach a level just short of stopping vital functions, although it could continue even after one lost consciousness. Its preliminary stages could start with something as simple as being sat on a stool, dressed in long pajamas (in summer) or just shorts (in the winter). The summer jungle air was suffocating; the damp, cold winter air was penetrating. After a while, you became a lump of huddled misery, sitting in the heat or biting cold. During a single session I sat on a stool in the same position 24 hours a day for 10 straight days… ” (Moe)
Unfortunately this is what many face every day, or worse. Already having to suffer at the extents of war, some are forced into these “jails” and held where they endure close to similar treatment.
Two of the more commonly known prisons are Abu Ghraib in Iraq,
and Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. “Hundreds of detainees continued to be held without charge or trial at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Thousands of people were detained during US military and security operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and routinely denied access to their families and lawyers. Military investigations were initiated or conducted into allegations of torture and ill-treatment of detainees by US personnel in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and into reports of deaths in custody and ill-treatment by US forces elsewhere in Iraq, and in Afghanistan and Guantanamo.” (United States of America)
What does not making sense is that we “promote” the Golden Rule, but then go against what the principle of it says: “treat others how you would like to be treated”. I can attest that I would not like to be held in a