So many people claim we shouldn't do one thing or the other (e.g torture) because of "moral superiority". ..?

Jacko12

Well if the Taliban are willing to torture us in the most cruel and inhumane ways than i believe we should be allowed to.
The only torture technique the CIA has said to use is "waterboarding" which in my eyes isn't really torture. Its a simulated drowning, and it isn't lethal in any way.
The Taliban and other terrorist groups would never give out information if we didn't have a way to get it out of them in the first place.
I am against serious torture but "waterboarding" isn't any where in the vicinity of what the Taliban and Al Qaeda do to the U.S. and our allies.

Kyrix

Using questionable tactics in the past doesn't mean you have to use them forever. France claims moral superiority despite all the stuff Napoleon did. And using "questionable" tactics isn't necessarily wrong either - it just means that there's no easy answers. If I had a choice between making a rotten criminal extremely uncomfortable for a few hours or even a few days and letting thousands of innocents die I'd be extremely apt to take the latter. But what if doing so puts our POWs in danger of painful torture and forces them to give out sensitive information in like manner? Again, no easy answers.

smtfs2113

I have heard Colbert say that, but I haven't heard anyone say it seriously.

amazin'g

Yes. Those who think they're on their high horse are those who've only seen the azz end of the horse. They should talk.

D-Bo

We don't and have never done torture. Therefore, we are morally superior. Liberals actually believe that some change in policy is going to change the fact that Al Qaida wants to kill us all. I hate to say it, but I believe it will take another terrorist attack on U.S. soil before liberals wake up. Even then, they will probably forget about it in a few years like they did with 911. The world is not this big happy lovey place that liberals think it should be. If waterboarding is the worst thing we do to our captured enemies I think we should win an award from all of humanity.

Mark F

But torture has never been a reliable means of extracting good information. Torture historically is used to extract propaganda, or for punitive measures. It rarely leads to anything useful since the subject will make up something if they have to in order to make the torture stop. When they give us that bad information we end up wasting resources chasing phantoms and false leads instead of going after who we should be going after.

The excuse has been put forward that it is OK for us to use torture because the terrorists would use it against us.

But aren't the terrorists the bad guys? Isn't that why we want to get rid of them because they do horrible things that civilized people don't do? So why, all of a sudden do we want to be just like them?

Then there is the flip side of the coin. Many of the 775 or so detainees interred at Guantanamo Bay (just one of the many prisons where these things take place) were subjected to torture, then released without charges. If they were released without charge we can't really call them terrorists, can we? So who exactly were we torturing and why? What happens after we release them? Do you think its possible that if they were not predisposed to act against us before that they might now, after being subjected to treatment that is condemned under international law?

Yeah we roll off that moral high ground from time to time, but that is no reason to abandon it. Victory comes from taking and holding the high ground.

My deep suspicion is that the seeming widespread support for cruel and unusual punishment of dubious benefit among the American public has a lot more to do with the punitive - we want them to suffer - than it does with an interest in real intelligence gathering.

Interestingly, that is what the former head of the Army's interrogation team in Iraq said on NPR today. If the guy who was in charge of interrogating some of these prisoners says these techniques produced bad information and were only designed to punish, then what is there to defend?

***EDIT***

So it makes you feel better, as an American, as a person who stands for a document that upholds that people are entitled to due process and freedom from cruel and unusual punishment to torture people who in many cases are not guilty of any crime. It makes you feel better to know that more Americans could in fact get killed not only because we would be wasting resources chasing the bad leads that inevitably result from torture but also because of the repercussions of torturing innocent people, just so you can get a little payback? Would that have anything to do with the fact their skin is darker than yours and they pray differently?

You are a sad, sad little man. If there is a hell, its fires wait for you, not them.

wittynbear

I have serious questions about being able to "win" a war. We just decide to quit with more favorable conditions. When we go to war we should do whatever it takes to break the back of the enemy as fast as possible, there should be no mercy, no surrender, no geneva conventions, no law of war, just break the enemy's will to fight and end it ASAP. If that means we torture someone fine, if it means we nuke someone I'm fine with that too. If it doesn't need to be done then we shouldn't do it, but if it needs to be done its criminal not to do it and get out guys killed.

Cassandra

No, we have to evolve eventually or this "cave man mentality" will kill us all off. Our toys of destruction are much more than our intellect and moral reasoning can responsibly handle.

We must all call for an end to violence, war, and this eye for an eye philosophy. It is imperative that those who know better call out those who perpetuate it.

War and violence only brings more war, violence, hatred, and resentment. If you want to be respected and cared about, show caring and RESPECT for all human beings.

t79a

How many times have we used atomic bombs. 2x, then we learned better. How many times did we torture? Did it actually stop/end a war? no.

buddha_wear_prada_2

okay, submit yourself to one first, if after the second waterboarding you don't confess to being a child molester, i will agree with you

GlynnaGirl

If we do that than we have already lost. The point isn't that we have never made mistakes, but that we learn and grow and do better. If we abandon our values then what makes us better than Soviet Russia or Nazi Germany?

Enter Your Message or Comment

User Name:
User Email:
Post a comment: