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There has been considerable debate this week about the report about the use of torture by the CIA to obtain information from terrorist suspects. After my initial attempts to dig into this story, I had to walk away from it in disgust. Much of the debate focuses on whether the use of torture was an effective means of obtaining useful intelligence, and the rest seems obsessed with the question of the legality of using torture in the first place. Personally, I think both arguements are completely beside the point.
As far as I'm concerned to more important question is whether the use of torture is ethically or morally permissible. I have serious reservations about whether torture is at all useful in producing valid intelligence, but in the end, that question is irrelevant in the larger context of the whether we should even be considering the use of torture. Likewise the question of legality. While the use of torture *might* be legal, that still doesn't address the fundamental question of whether we *should* use it.
The use of torture by the United States is, as far as I am concerned, is a grievous violations of the principles of human rights upon which our country was built. It undermines the very foundations of our nation, and errodes the moral fabric of our society. Not only does it cause incredible damage to our international reputation, but it drags us into the very gutter with those that we have identified as our enemies, lowering us to their level. We had ceded any moral high ground we might have once had, making it increasingly difficult to convince others that we stand for higher ideals. I also believe that the same mindset that justifies the use of torture in the name of national security has also caused enormous damage to our civil rights protections here at home as well.
Torture is wrong. Period. It is a fundamental violation of the inherent human rights enshrined in our Declaration of Independence, rights that belong to "all men", not just to our citizens or our friends. To justify the use of torture in the name of national security is to violate the very principles upon which we declared ourselves to be a free nation. No ends can possibly justify such a violation of basic human rights. The debate we *should* be having is not about the effectiveness or legality of torture, but about how to make sure that we *never* resort to such tactics again. We need to be clear that such practices are fundamentally wrong, hold those responsible for their use accountable, and put in place measures to ensure that we never give in to the temptation to use them again.
As far as I'm concerned to more important question is whether the use of torture is ethically or morally permissible. I have serious reservations about whether torture is at all useful in producing valid intelligence, but in the end, that question is irrelevant in the larger context of the whether we should even be considering the use of torture. Likewise the question of legality. While the use of torture *might* be legal, that still doesn't address the fundamental question of whether we *should* use it.
The use of torture by the United States is, as far as I am concerned, is a grievous violations of the principles of human rights upon which our country was built. It undermines the very foundations of our nation, and errodes the moral fabric of our society. Not only does it cause incredible damage to our international reputation, but it drags us into the very gutter with those that we have identified as our enemies, lowering us to their level. We had ceded any moral high ground we might have once had, making it increasingly difficult to convince others that we stand for higher ideals. I also believe that the same mindset that justifies the use of torture in the name of national security has also caused enormous damage to our civil rights protections here at home as well.
Torture is wrong. Period. It is a fundamental violation of the inherent human rights enshrined in our Declaration of Independence, rights that belong to "all men", not just to our citizens or our friends. To justify the use of torture in the name of national security is to violate the very principles upon which we declared ourselves to be a free nation. No ends can possibly justify such a violation of basic human rights. The debate we *should* be having is not about the effectiveness or legality of torture, but about how to make sure that we *never* resort to such tactics again. We need to be clear that such practices are fundamentally wrong, hold those responsible for their use accountable, and put in place measures to ensure that we never give in to the temptation to use them again.
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