Log In | Register
Nonetheless, like my liberal friends, I’m against torture. Really! They’re against it 100 percent of the time. I’m against it 99 percent of the time. I’m against it to punish jay-walkers and litterbugs and car thieves. In fact, I’m against it to punish anybody for any crime, no matter how heinous, if the crime has already has been committed. But if waterboarding, or some other enhanced interrogation technique, could save innocent American lives, I’m all for it. For me, that’s the moral position.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/05/06/bernard-goldberg-torture-justified/#ixzz1Ldz7NR58
Is 'Torture' Ever Justified?
Seeded on Sat May 7, 2011 2:08 AM EDT
Article Source: FOXNews.com- Enjoy this article? Help vote it up the 'Vine.
- Public Discussion (25)
I like the distinction of torturing to get information about a pending crime as opposed to using it to elicit a confession for past crimes, so I think Goldberg has a valid point on the moral question.
He leaves reliability off the table, though this is certainly up for debate. However, intelligence gathered by torture can always be investigated. I can't imagine our intelligence community would make a major move based solely on the words of a tortured prisoner.
- 1 vote
#1 - Sat May 7, 2011 2:15 AM EDT
DId water-boarding and other "enhanced interrogation" techniques play a significant role in acquiring the intelligence that led to bin Laden's demise?
The corroborated timeline describing how the intel was gathered suggests otherwise.
Waterboarding is an excellent interrogation technique if your goal is:
a) a false confession
b) retribution
But if your primary objective to obtain useful intelligence, it's going to be counterproductive.
Those who are formally trained in interrogation techniques consistently agree that the so-called "enhanced" methods employed by the CIA were totally inappropriate and tactically inane.
These techniques are commonly used by foreign extremist groups and dictatorial regimes that are trying to get prisoners to confess to crimes that the interrogators know were not committed, i.e., they are not interested in obtaining information, their goal is the confession itself.
- 6 votes
#2 - Sat May 7, 2011 3:13 AM EDTI think common sense tells you that if you torture someone, you may just force them into trying to tell you whatever they think you want to hear. But that doesn't mean torture never works. There will also be plenty of cases where someone will simply tell you the truth. In either case, it gives you a lead to follow - possibly a false one, but that's why you investigate further.
enhanced interrogation/CIA black ops/rendition put in place by President Bush is what led to Bin-Laden!-for Obama to try and take credit for it is despicable! Obama is a phony, a fraud, and a joke!
- 2 votes
#4 - Sat May 7, 2011 4:03 AM EDTNot when you consider that Obama is a illegal and illegitamate President! If you do not believe me, please UNSEAL ALL of his SEALED records! Are you afraid of the truth?
- 2 votes
Not when you consider that Obama is a illegal and illegitamate President! If you do not believe me, please UNSEAL ALL of his SEALED records! Are you afraid of the truth?
NO WAY! You folks still exist!? What record is it this time? Grade school report cards? Vaccinations? Movie ticket stubs?
- 3 votes
Torture is useful for those who start with the answer and then use torture to get them marketable support for their agenda. It's a stratgy or tactic favored by totalitarians. It's anti-democratic, anti-American, and simply immoral. The right-wing in America likes torture; that's telling and damning, too.
- 2 votes
#9 - Sat May 7, 2011 9:08 AM EDTThe people who really know torture (former military personnel) all agree that torture will illicit any statement to make the torture stop. Truth doesn't matter.
To perfectly illustrate this point, Jesse Ventura stated that, and I quote, "I'll put it to you this way: You give me a waterboard, Dick Cheney and one hour, and I'll have him confess to the Sharon Tate murders." 95% of people being tortured will say whatever it takes to make the torture stop, which is what the torturer wants to hear rather than the truth (which might not be what he wants to hear).
The other 5% are true believers and will spit in your face and laugh at your torture because he knows that his pain will be worth it to achieve their objective. These are suicide bombers after all. If they don't fear death, then what the hell do they have to fear from torture?
- 3 votes
#10 - Sat May 7, 2011 9:12 AM EDTNo torture is never justified. Japanese soldiers were executed for waterboarding WWII American POWs at the wars end. Politicians who authorize torture in this day and age should receive the same treatment.
- 3 votes
#11 - Sat May 7, 2011 10:49 AM EDTI agree. Those that would authorize torture should suffer the same fate we handed out to Japanese officers after WWII.
There is never an excuse to torture anyone for any reason. One will only ever get the answer they are looking for, rather than the truth. As the victim of torture will tell you anything to make it stop.
- 2 votes
But what defines torture? If you made me watch Jersey Shore all night, I would probably consider that torture, but someone else might love it.
I'm being facetious to make a point. It's definitely a gray area. One of the justifications for waterboarding is that, done correctly, it causes no actual damage, although even this is up for debate.
If your prison cell has no mattress and you wake up with sore muscles, isn't that worse? Is the sleep deprivation we employ torture? What if they just play loud music all night long?
International law says waterboarding is torture, but I think it's important to remember that making something illegal does not automatically make it "wrong" for all time.
Yes and no. I wouldn't be against a slap in the face or sleep deprivation.
But when you hurt someone senseless, they'll tell you the sky is actually green, or that giant man-eating beetles are infiltrating the FBI in order to stop the torture. It's not a good way to extract information, but then again, just sweet-talking the person to death is not either.
- 1 vote
#13 - Sat Jun 4, 2011 2:28 PM EDTYou're in Easy Mode. If you prefer, you can use XHTML Mode instead. |
As a new user, you may notice a few temporary content restrictions. Click here for more info.
