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Torture & Interrogation

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Submitted By metalingus903
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The current debate regarding torture being used as an interrogation measure stands whether or not forms of torture are being masked as “enhanced” interrogation techniques to extract information from suspected terrorists. The argument in Essay 161 is that waterboarding and other severe interrogation methods constitute as torture, and are not effective. Therefore, we should find alternative solutions to extract information. The argument in Essay 172 is that severe interrogation methods are necessary to save the lives of hundreds or thousands of innocent lives. Therefore, we should reject the arguments made by those against severe interrogation methods. In this paper, I will evaluate each of these arguments and furthermore say which argument is stronger with evidence. Enhanced interrogation methods refers to the U.S government’s program of systematic torture of detainees by the Central Intelligence Agency (and others) authorized by the George W. Bush administration.3 Waterboarding is a form of torture in which water is poured over a cloth covering the face and breathing passages of an immobilized suspect, causing the individual to experience the sensation of drowning. Waterboarding can cause extreme pain, dry drowning, damage to lungs, brain damage from oxygen deprivation, and other physical injuries including broken bones due to struggling against restraints, lasting psychological damage, and death.3 Whether waterboarding should be classified as a method of torture or not since it was authorized in 2014. The arguments in the following essays try to address both sides of the argument, respectively. In Essay 16 “Torture: Time for Congress to End the Debate” the argument is detailed as follows; premise 1) waterboarding is considered torture as stated by Malcolm Nance, a former Navy survival instructor who was waterboarded as part of a training exercise. Premise 2)

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