According to The Independent, it is possible that the CIA would use methods amounting to torture in extracting information from this Al Qaeda suspect. Whether the story is based in fact or not, it raises some interesting questions.
Would torture be justified, and why? Suppose you knew that the information you could get by torturing Zubeida would save an innocent life? Suppose it would save 10,000 innocent lives? Is there any point at which you would say that torture becomes morally justified?
In my opinion, the United States should never resort to torture. No matter how useful it might seem in the short term, it will hurt us in the long term. The scary truth is that it is not possible to make ourselves completely safe from people who are willing to die to hurt us. Increasing our willingness to commit brutal and cruel acts will not deter them. It will validate their hatred of us, at least in the minds of future generations, and keep a fresh supply of terrorists coming.
I also think it's a very slippery slope. If we'll torture a potential terrorist, why not a suspected child molester? What happens when we torture someone and learn nothing? Or an innocent person? I don't want to live in a country that tortures people.
Peace.
Would torture be justified, and why? Suppose you knew that the information you could get by torturing Zubeida would save an innocent life? Suppose it would save 10,000 innocent lives? Is there any point at which you would say that torture becomes morally justified?
In my opinion, the United States should never resort to torture. No matter how useful it might seem in the short term, it will hurt us in the long term. The scary truth is that it is not possible to make ourselves completely safe from people who are willing to die to hurt us. Increasing our willingness to commit brutal and cruel acts will not deter them. It will validate their hatred of us, at least in the minds of future generations, and keep a fresh supply of terrorists coming.
I also think it's a very slippery slope. If we'll torture a potential terrorist, why not a suspected child molester? What happens when we torture someone and learn nothing? Or an innocent person? I don't want to live in a country that tortures people.
Peace.