...Torture and America Eric Lindsey Kaplan University Torture and America As the country goes through its tenth year of the war on terror one can look back and see some of the policy differences that has plagued this country when, as a nation, our young men are sent to war. Everything, in this author’s view needs to be on the table, and transparent. Of course, troops strength, strategy, and general war plans should be kept from the enemy, the need of informing our own people has been a tight rope that is not easy to balance on for any one person. This was especially true of the “enhanced interrogations” used by the Bush administration at the beginning of the War on Terror. What this paper plans to do is to explain the four greatest players in this policy of enhanced interrogations, what each player brought to the table, and how each player impacted the final policy of the administration. One of the biggest problems of the war on terror has been what to do with the battle field detainees. The questions faced by those in charge were, and are, how to balance the need for timely, accurate information from those that would do us harm, and still follow treaties this country is signed on to and our own law when it comes to interrogation. The 8th Amendment of the constitution reads in whole: Excessive bail shall not be required nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted, (U.S. Const. amend. VIII) This Amendment to our Constitution is the basis...
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...Should Castration Be An Option? In the case of David Wayne Jones, who was an employee of a YMCA, molested over 40 boys and was sentenced with several felony charges. Mr. Jones voluntarily decided to be castrated in a Texas and it’s the only state in the United States to allow the surgery to be done. Mr. Jones had tried the reduction of testosterone but that did not work out for him. I believe that castration should not be ruled as sentencing for sex offenders because for female offenders the sentencing of castration would not work. Another is most sex offenders are still sexually violent predators. Also not many states would like the idea of castration being a sentencing. Female offenders would not be affected as much as male offenders with castration and state/federal law should not discriminate sex. The law should be affecting both sexes so that both sexes would receive the same punishment. Incarceration is, in my belief, the best punishment for sex offenders right now. Incarceration is both fair to female offenders and male offenders. In the case of David Wayne Jones, Mr. Jones was ruled to still be a sexually violent predator. Therefore, this sentencing would not be as effective as incarceration. Mr. Jones voluntarily castrated himself but the question of “Did he do it for a lesser sentence?” pops into the picture. In my belief, it should not be consider as a result of a “plea barging” because many sex offenders would take that easy way out. Not many states would...
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...Pregnancy during the Dirty Wars The Dirty War in Argentina started as a result of economic and political insecurity that ensued from public disorder beginning in 1969 (Chasteen). The Dirty War lasted from 1976 to 1983 and began as a result of a military coup of a government that was put into action during the presidency of Isabel Martinez de Peron in 1974. The purpose of the military coup was to develop a stabilized government by systematically removing leftist activists, seen to be “terrorists” (Finchelstein). The Dirty War involved the systematic kidnapping, murder, and torture of thousands of citizens including pregnant women and children. The Dirty War involved kidnapping, murder, and torture of thousands of citizens that were virtually invisible to the public and as a result called "disappearances”. Captives from all walks of life were systematically tortured, raped and murdered, sometimes drowned and other times buried in mass graves. Approximately 30% of the disappeared were women. Some were abducted with their small children, and some were pregnant, or became so while in detention, usually through rape by guards and torturers (Finchelstein). Pregnant prisoners were routinely kept alive until they had given birth. Hundreds of pregnant women were forced to give birth in secret detention centers before “disappearing.” Subsequently their newborns were given to military families or allies, who raised them with a completely different identity. Many...
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...Torturing Terrorist The word torture makes teeth cringe with images of a person tied down to a chair with ruptured lips, bruised face, in a room full of people taking turns in “beating the truth” out of them. Torturers have an illusion of finding the “truth” through creative forms of inflicting agonizing pain on a terrorist. During times of crisis this technique can be tempting to practice. The ticking time bomb scenario is always a form in an attempt to justify torture (Smith). These methods can cause a negative impact in communities in our nation. Torture should not be an option. Torture is defined as: the act of inflicting excruciating pain, as punishment or revenge, as a means of getting a confession or information, or for sheer cruelty (Dictionary.com). In human nature every being is wired to survive. The primal instinct takes over a person when they are being tortured and know that they are in a life or death situation. Regardless if they know anything about what the interrogators want to know, they will say anything to keep themselves from being tortured. Excruciating pain is not the only way of obtaining information because torture has two forms that could be either physical or psychological (law.harvard.edu). There have been data-based attempts to probe the definition of torture. In a sophisticated empirical study of 432 torture survivors, Metin Basoglu (2009) analyzed the psychological meaning of 46 torture techniques. Statistical analyses revealed...
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...Dante, torture or pain are either coming from tormented souls or is near. Throughout this novel, we not only see images drawn in our minds by Dante, but can in vision what Dante is going through from the sounds described in each Canto. We see Dante’s hearing and understanding develop to a more mature level as he faces different souls and hears their suffering. Our first instance of sounds imagery is in Canto III (3). Upon entering the Inferno, Dante hears tortured shrills coming from those who are unsure of where their loyalties lie and never choose a side. He hears their pain and begins to weep, for the pain he hears symbolizes everything he is about to face while he is in the Inferno. Since Dante has compassion for those in pain, he is forced to listen to the groaning and screams coming from the tortured souls in order that he may come to a level of acceptance with those who are in the rings of the Inferno. We also see sounds imagery in Canto IV (4). “Breaking the deep sleep that filled my head,/ A heavy clap of thunder startled me up/ As though by force” (Canto IV lines 1-3). Since Dante was not yet accustomed to the Inferno, the Inferno woke him up with a loud clap of thunder in order that he may become better accustomed to the sounds of torture. Dante expected to hear tortured souls, especially because Virgil’s face became white with pity for the pain the virtuous pagans face in the first circle of the Inferno. But, we do not hear any suffering or shrills of torture. “Here...
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...suspected to be a serial killer and well-known torture killer of many women, although no bodies were ever recovered. David was eventually discovered when many of his accomplices came forward with accusations regarding the murder of around eight women. On top of these known victims, police also believe that Ray may be responsible for the murders of up to sixty women near and around Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. Ray had a very disturbed and violent childhood. Many have speculated that this was the road that led him to his life of torture and murder. Ray resided with his grandparents. While still occasionally seeing his father, he was physically abused each and every time. While he was attending school he made very poor grade, and was often teased for being shy around females. Many of his educational downfalls were thought to be brought on by the passing of his Grandmother which split him and his sister up. David eventually graduated high school and spent much of his time participating in illicit drug use and a strong habit of consuming alcohol. He later enlisted in the military. 1. Ray’s Murders Ray tortured and murdered all of the female victims in a homemade torture facility he named "toy box". The chamber contained many objects that he personally named and felt to be his friends. The contents of his friends consisted of chains, pliers, pulleys, clamps, whips, knives, chainsaws, hack saws, and other miscellaneous torture devices. These tools were the essence of his killing...
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...consequentialist issues which utilitarianism requires be weighed when making moral decisions. Utilitarianism attempts to solve both of these difficulties by appealing to experience; however, no method of reconciling an individual decision with the rules of experience is suggested, and no relative weights are assigned to the In deciding whether or not to torture a terrorist who has planted a bomb in New York City, a utilitarian must evaluate both the overall welfare of the people involved or effected by the action taken, and the consequences of the action taken. To calculate the welfare of the people involved in or effected by an action, utilitarianism requires that all individuals be considered equally. Quantitative utilitarians would weigh the pleasure and pain which would be caused by the bomb exploding against the pleasure and pain that would be caused by torturing the terrorist. Then, the amounts would be summed and compared. The problem with this method is that it is impossible to know beforehand how much pain would be caused by the bomb exploding or how much pain would be caused by the torture. Utilitarianism offers no practical way to make the interpersonal comparison of utility necessary to compare the pains. In the case of the bomb exploding, it at least seems highly probable that a greater amount of pain would be caused, at least in the present, by the bomb exploding. This probability suffices for a quantitative utilitarian...
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...Jasmine Trujillo 3/14/16 Per. 7 Is Protest an Effective Way to Promote Social Change The lists of the worlds problems are a long onThere is a need for social change, because society is not perfect. The list of the world's problems is a long one. For example: torture is practiced in many countries; many people live in poverty; discrimination occurs against women, ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, gays and lesbians, and many others. So change is needed. What sort of change? People have different visions of a desirable world, so it’s difficult to gain agreement about what would be a perfect world. Violence, including threatening, vandalizing, beating and killing has been the most popular outcome of protest. Take the Baltimore Riots for instance, because of the hospitalization and death of Freddie Gray, many people have taken it personally to where they choose to resort to violence. The citizens of Baltimore fought against the police and city council in honor of Gray’s death. Protest is an ineffective way to bring about social change because too many citizens get hurt in the process and the home and city someone once loved gets destroyed, trashed, and broken. One of the disadvantages in using violence for beneficial change is that if the effort does not succeed, all that has been accomplished is negative; including innocent victims getting hurt during a violent protest. In the “Baltimore Riots online” article it states, “Try telling that to 61 year old Richard...
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...Although the organization has enough funding to operate effectively now, the lack of a significant, more stable source of funding has limited what they can plan to do in the future. Without a significant increase in individual donations and corporate sponsors, SURVIVORS will be dependent on government funding and may have to cut back on the number of torture survivors it can care for. - SITUATION ANALYSIS - INTERNAL FACTORS: MISSION Survivors of Torture, International is an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to caring for survivors of politically-motivated torture and their families who live in San Diego County. Since 1997, “SURVIVORS” has helped more than 650 torture survivors from more than 55 countries to recover from their traumas. Their mission is to be a healing resource for survivors of torture and their families, to raise awareness among the general public, to educate the professional communities about torture, and to be an instrument to end torture. SURVIVORS fulfills its mission by teaming with partners that provide medical, dental, psychiatric, psychological, legal and social services to torture victims at a drastically reduced cost. BUDGET 90 percent of SURVIVORS’ overall budget is strictly set aside for client services and roughly 75 percent of the operating budget comes from federal grants. EXTERNAL FACTORS: ARTICLES North County Times: An article published on July 30, 2005, titled “One Survivor’s Story” detailed...
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...Torture is the act of deliberately inflicting severe physical or psychological pain and possibly injury to an organism, usually to one who is physically restrained or otherwise under the torturer's control or custody and unable to defend against what is being done to him or her. Torture has been carried out or sanctioned by individuals, groups, and states throughout history from ancient times to modern day, and forms of torture can vary greatly in duration from only a few minutes to several days or even longer. Reasons for torture can include punishment, revenge, political re-education, deterrence, interrogation or coercion of the victim or a third party, or simply the sadistic gratification of those carrying out or observing the torture. The need to torture another is thought to be the result of internal psychological pressure in the psyche of the torturer. The torturer may or may not intend to kill or injure the victim, but sometimes torture is deliberately fatal and...
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...The article, “Hostage”, by Hampton Sides explores the mind of a man, Peter Moore, who torture by a militia in Iraq for 947 days. This article also has other psychologist speak on the matter and how people in similarly situations can emerge with different reactions and side effects. Moore was in Iraq for a business trip when he was kidnapped by guards and held blind folded at gun point. The first thing the torturers did was try to break his psych by hoaxing an execution. Over the next two and a half years Moore would endure psychological, physical and emotional torture. He realized he would have to control his urges to respond in fight or flight and acquire other characteristics such as patients, optimism, and discipline. These characteristics and his imagination allowed him to overcome his traumatic experience by escaping his environment. However, this is not to be associated...
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...Torture is a method of gathering information; it dates back to early medieval times where gruesome techniques were used. Throughout the years, the techniques have changed, but the method of torturing for information still survives. Some people encourage the use of torture for information, while others discourage it because they believe that it goes against human ethics. Human ethics are the rights that all humans have, and the big controversy over torture is whether torture goes against those ethics. In this paper the method of torture will be examined for both encouragement and discouragement based on the views each person has of human ethics. It is quite easy to look at worldwide news telecasts and know what kind of things that American...
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...Torture and Terrorism. On September 11, 2001, the U.S. was attacked by the terrorist group Al-Qaida. Terrorists hijacked four airplanes and carried out attack against targets in the United States. September 11 attack resulted in the loss of almost three thousand people, and caused at least ten billion dollars of damage on infrastructure and property. Following the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, the United States of America, which was the number one defender of human rights around the world faced questions about the use of torture to obtain confessions. The debates over torture’s legitimacy created two groups, one defending the use of torture to save innocent people’s lives,...
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...Alliyah Brownlow Prof. Coomer ENGL 102 Feb 9, 2018 Essay 1 The Problem of Coercion Enhanced interrogation techniques used by the Central Intelligence Agency do not yield actionable results, according to psychologist James Mitchell, a former member of the United States Air Force. Coercion is used by law enforcement all around the United States to coerce people to admit to untruths, enhanced interrogation techniques are often used to solicit information that does not prove to be useful. Former President Obama recognized “the power of our most important values” and that “we uphold our most cherished values, not only because doing so is right, but because it strengthens our country, and keeps us safe,” which is why he banned the use of enhanced interrogation techniques. Just as the American people agreed that enhanced interrogation techniques were not parallel to enduring American principles of doing what is right with treatment of potential threats to American safety, many people know, if not experienced, that coercion needs to be curtailed. As law enforcement continues to have a developing presence in society there is a need for regulation and training for law enforcement officers, so that citizens can feel that they are safe both physically and with regards to their rights to liberty. For as long as there has been law enforcement, there have been problems with implementation, or the practices. There have been many occurrences where coercion has actually led to the death...
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...Kenny Anderson Political Science Prof. Hawn 10 October 2012 Government and Torture Means of torture have been used around the world for a number of years. At one point in time it had been terminated in the United States; however, after the events of September 11, 2001, it has come back as an acceptable way to acquire information from terrorists. Torture is, according to the United Nation Convention Against Torture in 1984: “any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him, or a third person, information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in, or incidental to, lawful sanctions.” (OHCHR) This definition, regardless of any country's own rules, regulations and laws is obligatory to be carried out by all the countries. When someone is accused of being a culprit of torture, there are various credentials, which are modified to wartime situations when needed. In general to be a culprit, one must bring severe physical, mental pain or suffering upon the victim. In most scenarios...
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