Torture as a Tool in the War on Terror?
Last night on Commander in Chief, there was a debate about the use of torture to get information out of people who plan to terrorize and kill Americans. What do you think about the constitutionality of the use of torture? Before you answer this question, remember: the point here is to focus on the constitutionality argument, not the morality argument.
posted by Crosby | 1:36 PM
6 Comments:
Article 3, Section 3, #1 gives the definition of treason: "Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war against them, or adhering to their enemies...." #2 of Section 3 states that "the Congress shall have the power to declare the punishment of treason..." According to the Constitution, if a country or a population is warring against the U.S. or helping those who are, Congress has the right to decide what kind of punishment will be inflicted upon them.
Problems arise with the term "war." In Article 1, Section 8, #11, one of the powers granted to Congress is the right to declare war. If, (as with the War in Iraq) the president has declared war against a country, does Congress still have the right to decide what punishments are and are not acceptable? According to the Constitution, we are technically not at war, and therefore, it would be un-Constitutional for Congress to decide what punishments are allowed to be inflicted on "traitors."
The constitution expressly prohibits "cruel and unusual punishment" (Amendments to the Constitution, article 8).
However (and yes Crosby I realize that this is an opinion), I ascribe more to the "all's fair in love and war" philosophy, at least to an extent.
Unusual punsihments have been utilized on the most recent prisoners of war. This includes sleep deprivation,incessant noise, etc.(things that usually do not constitute as physical torture).
Is this torture? Yes.
Is it in America or what is genrally thought of as torture? No.
Should it be used (in my humble opinion)? Yes, and I understand that this is hard to imagine coming from an independent who happens to be a member of Amnesty International and has liberal tendencies.
I am not going to use the, "they do it to us so we'll do it to them," arguement. I simply think that in some cases torture, even physical if necessary, is the only way to achieve what needs to be done. If saving lives, be they American or foreign, means sacrificing someone's well-being then by all means, do what needs to be done.
I agree with patric that the right agenest cruel and unusual punishment only applies to the U.S. people and mainly would not come up when talking about the terrorists. If one has the option of torturing an enemy to save the lives of their own then they should do what must be done.
Hmmmm . . . interesting. Why did we invade Iraq, again? Because of WMD, or, no, because Saddam Hussein was an evil dictator who TORTURED people?
Maybe we should look to Senator John McCain (R-AZ), one of the few U.S. politicians who makes some of us proud to be Americans. McCain was tortured during the Vietnam War by his North Vietnamese captors. He recently proposed an amendment to a military spending bill that would "prohibit 'cruel, inhuman or degrading' treatment of prisoners in the custody of the U.S. military." This, by the way, has been the policy of the U.S. government (under Republicans and Democrats) for 50+ years.
What does this country stand for? Freedom, justice and dignity for Americans or for everyone? And how can we react with anger toward those in other countries who torture Americans if we resort to torture as well?
It was reported today (11/2/05) that "The CIA has been hiding and interrogating al Qaeda captives at a secret facility in Eastern Europe, part of a covert global prison system that has included sites in eight countries and was set up after the September 11, 2001, attacks." See this entire article at:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/security_prisons_dc
(This is not specifically about torture as a tool in the war on terror, but I thought that I would post it here because it has to do with the detention of prisoners in the war on terror.) Do you have any reactions to this news?
I admit that I am more than a little worried by the news. If the CIA is interrogating prisoners undercover like this, who knows what they are doing to them? And if they are using torture in some way...can you imagine the disgrace on the American people? We fight against the very methods we use--that's really smart, isn't it? It's kind of like what Ms. Crosby was saying; it acts as a double standard of sorts. I hope that is not the case and torture is not a method used in the interrogations.
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