The Morality of Torture
The authority of using torture as a punishment in the past has been a cause for conflict. Today, some people see torture as an efficient form of punishment; they believe it is especially necessary in the treatment of terrorist prisoners or prisoners for the purpose of pulling information. Some writers make up fake situations to blow the advantages of torture out of proportion, claiming that it is danger free, low cost and useful for getting fast response. However, after carefully thinking through the arguments used by many torture supporters, one will figure out that the arguments of torture supporters are false. Writers who support torture show less logic, but rather offended anger to evil violence. The use of torture as а form of punishment should be prohibited because contrary to the arguments of torture supporters, it does not serve а purpose, is against international law, and will only perpetuate hatred and retaliation. (Davis)
According to, the International Statuette, Torture is any kind of use of force, mental or physical used on a human being to gain third party information or self-confession. No country prefers to use it but is forced to do in order to safeguard the lives of its citizens and smoothen justice. (Greenberg) Most criminal suspects go through some level of torture. Torture may involve Physical methods like starvation, beatings, burning, sodomy as well as psychological methods such as verbal abuse, solitary confinement, and sleep deprivation.
Regardless of the damage and destruction that they have done to us, reducing ourselves to that level puts us even below them. Al-Qaeda suspects and illegal fighters act out of religious hatred – fighting back with ignorance by torturing the suspect is not the answer to preventing the war on terrorism. How would we be able to call ourselves members of the most peaceful, law-obeying and productive country and then see it as acceptable to chain people up and torture other human beings? Torture violates the right to bodily fair treatment and therefore represents a human being as having no rights and privileges that every individual person possesses.
Intentional causing of pain and suffering on another human being is wrong. The infliction of pain on an individual in response to an action after it has happened can in no way change the effect of the original action nor can it serve to educate or awaken the individual. Negative rewards do not discourage future acts nor will it ever. The physical or emotional pain or injury of torture done to A human being creates only stress and injury, it not only damages the person being punished but it damages and invigorates those who cause the punishment. The use of physical violence used on anyone is A carefully planned act which violently injures torturers and adds to cruelty. Punishment is uncivilized and serves no purpose other than the perpetuation of oppression. (Machan)
Not only is torture not always effective (Understanding Torture), but it also increases radical Islamic and moderate Islamic hatred of USA, which just recruits more terrorists. Most terrorists are not discouraged by punishment. They are willing to die for their cause before giving out information or showing/telling about secrets when they are being tortured. Torture of terrorists and illegal fighters causes these fanatic groups to get revenge and fight back which then causes more terrorist actions to continue happening. The only way to try and prevent future attacks is to limit the amount of torture. It is never right to hurt one human being in the hopes of saving another.
When we see the videos of our own soldiers being violently/harshly tortured by members of different religious groups over in the Middle East, it does not sit easy with us. How than can we perform the same very dirty acts against another human soul. The USA has A reputation for being a model for human rights around the world. To allow torture in our own country, in any shape or form, would be hypocritical. Communities must have standards and laws, and if these are ignored, man will break down and civilization will collapse. At war or not, America should be the noble person and treat any prisoner, any person, kindly. But it is obvious that hundreds of prisoners are badly tortured still.
Torture of humans as well as animals is wrong on human grounds; and the thinking that each living being has a soul and a life that gets its own individual rights and privileges. Whether it be just an animal, or an actual terrorist who forces pain and suffering upon many, these rights cannot be taken away and gave a good reason for by the causing of torture. The end does not give a good reason for the means. The only truly effective and successful methods of dealing with correction of behavior come through kind communication, understanding of social responsibility, education, and self-control. Punishment simply does not, and has not and will never work.
Every day we read in newspapers, magazines and on internet that so-and-so of somewhere has died of torture. Every day we come across hundreds of examples of misuse of force by the police and armed forces of many countries. We all are familiar by the knowledge that many a times torture has been used as a method of well-thought-out murder and cutting off the head of innocent people by governments. It is true and it is stressful and terrible, but we do not support the use of torture as a killing machine nor are we supporting those criminal Governments using it as such.
This way we lose an innocent to extremists. This is exactly what must be avoided and the only way to do is to avoid the exercise of this power of torture. However, we do not under any situation/event use torture against humans. It is a horrid act and cruel and dishonest.
Torture is most widely and intensively used on prisoners of wars. War, no matter how morally right, is in the end one form of competition between two groups who are after the same benefit. Even if the reason for the war is reasonable, it will bring out our worst elements such as greed, hatred. Once torture is used, the application will strengthen because it is the best way for a person to realize the feeling of complete and total power. The latest abuse is the animal-like and cruel and shocking torture in the Abu Ghraib prison camp in Iraq. In the spring of 2003, President George W. Bush started Awar in Iraq, having a fake reason to eliminate the Saddam government which possessed weapons of mass destruction and to bring democracy to Iraq. The war ended quickly and the US and its friends announced a big victory. The US government put over 5000 POWs in a prison called the Abu Ghraib. In the following year, there were 44 torture cases on over 170 POWs. One tortured prisoner described the Abu Ghraib condition as nothing but cursing and beating, an upsetting threat from a master as if we were dogs. The torture in Abu Ghraib was mainly consisted of intentional violence or sexual abuse. (Kampmark) The actions in Abu Ghraib were kept secret until 2004, and other countries strongly criticized the US government for its agreement of using torture, which greatly embarrassed the US government. What's more, the torture of Iraqis POWs upset/shook/shaken the whole Iraqi population, and there are many Iraqis who say that Iraq can never be won by force although it is now ruled by the US. Also, the case also angered many Muslims in Muslim countries such as Egypt and Indonesia. Due to international political pressure, the US government had to prosecute some of the Abu Ghraib guards, including Lynndie England, and dismiss its lawyer General John Ashcroft. It is common sense that the US cannot criticize its enemies if the US itself has violated international law. Therefore, if the US continues to torture its POWs or people of political importance, then we should not complain when any further counter attacks or terrorism issues come.
The Geneva Convention was drawn in 1949. Although there are minor changes to this law in the following years, the world's situation is changing faster than the law. We need to have a new international law to reinforce the prohibition of torture, and we need newspapers, web sites, and TV to tell people the reality of torture, strongly criticize governments that use torture as a form of punishment, and teach the public that torture will not keep peace, rather it will bring violence.
More than that, the information given by a tortured victim is unpredictable and unreliable. Assume there is a case that perfectly matches the conditions a torture supporter desires. One of the terrorists has been grabbed and taken control of and tortured. Under torture, the terrorist gave the some information. Very likely, the information that he had given was useless, for he knew little about the whole terrorist operation and simply exactly followed orders to carry out acts of terrorism. More than that, a victim will confess to anything under torture.

Works Cited
Davis, Michael, “The Moral Justifiability of Torture and Other Inhumane Treatment” International Journal of Applied Philosophy, 2005, 161–78.
Greenberg, Karen J., The Torture Debate in America, Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Machan, Tibor “Exploring Extreme Violence (Torture)” in Journal of Social Philosophy Vol. xxi no.1, 1990.
“Understanding Torture and Torturers”. Journal of Evolutionary Psychology. 2002, pp.131-133.
Kampmark, Binoy, “Torture, Truth and Liberty: Placing the Conduct at Abu Ghraib in Context”. Contemporary Review. Volume: 287. Issue: 1675. August 2005, pp.65-68.