I didn't notice that my video I linked was for radio personality Mancow. I used to listen to his show a little back in the day...
Quote:
Originally Posted by manasecret
Let's turn this question around:
If our enemies used waterboarding today to extract information from U.S. prisoners, and then those U.S. prisoners were released and we had the ability to prosecute the people who did the waterboarding or ordered it to be done, should and would they be prosecuted for torture?
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The problem with this argument is that many of the prisoners we are detaining are these terrorist guys that don't belong to any country and no one is holding accountable for. They aren't POW if no one wants to claim them. At least that is my impression, I don't pay enough attention to the news to know if we are globally being held accountable for the safety and quality of imprisonment for these people so you can happily link me to some news sites suggesting otherwise, I'm just lazy.
Anyway.....
I don't like the textbook definition of torture and interrogation. I think they both serve 2 different purposes.
When I think of interrogation I think of a situation where someone who is suspected of a crime (perhaps evidence is involved) is questioned. These questions might be held up to the scrutiny of a polygraph test, and they most likely are administered by trained psychologists. They are probably carefully chosen, and used as a litmus test for the truth. Perhaps playing good cop/bad cop still falls within the realm of "interrogation." Threatening the suspect, yelling at them, even beating the shit out of them might all fall within the realm of "interrogation." None of this sounds all that frightening though because usually this is done through the legal system...usually....
When I think of torture I think of a situation where someone has information or plans about an event that may not have happened. In this situation it might be hard to question them or give them a polygraph test. It's kind of like extracting a confession. "Yes, I confess! We planned to blow up your trade center!" In this situation...if good cop/bad cop doesn't work...why not rip off some nails or sleep deprive them or water board them or give them electric shock! Obviously the flaw with this plan is most people will do anything to get out of stress because we enjoy equilibrium. In that situation who is to say someone doesn't give a BS answer to stop the pain? More frightening than the pain though is the fact that a lot of this torture is happening unsupervised. That sucks. If torture is O-K, it should be ok through some sort of system of checks and balances.
I think that system should be global too. I think there should be checks and balances for intelligence between a few of our big allies. I also think the world shouldn't be sympathetic to known terrorists or associates of guys like Bin Laden. If you hang out with Bin Laden I think you probably had the water boarding coming.
The problem is really 'what is torture.' I think it can be both physical and psychological, or just physical, or just psychological. I'd definitely say water boarding is torture though. I've seen numerous people try it out in relaxed environments and no one seems to enjoy it. Could you image getting water boarded in a secret CIA prison? Fucccckkkk no, I say!
Anyway, another issue I have is what is the alternative to no torture? Better interrogation? Better interrogation how? I mean it's one thing to have an armchair discussion about the obvious moral pitfalls of torture. It's much more productive to actually come up with a solution to this problem. I think this very fact is the reason why Obama has been so hesitant with recent policy regarding the issue; the man is a critical thinker.
Re: Torture vs. Interrogation
True, very true, I could not have put it better myself.
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