Torture is something that sparks a lot of controversy. Some people find the use of torture to be acceptable because it can help save many lives. Others find it to be inhumane and oppose the use of torture. I will give an explanation of torture, waterboarding and discuss whether torture is humane or not. Through this explanation and discussion I hope that a better understanding of torture is achieved.
According to Seumas Miller, torture is: (a) the intentional infliction of extreme physical suffering on some non-consenting, defenceless person; (b) the intentional, substantial curtailment of the exercise of the person's autonomy (achieved by means of (a)); (c) in general, undertaken for the purpose of breaking the victim's will. Torture inflicts extreme pain and suffering on the individual that is being tortured. The reason to torture is to break the person’s will in order to get a confession or information. It can also be used to simply punish the person. If this is true, torture is a means to punish someone. Is it cruel and unusual punishment? I think that many would say that it is.
According to Tom Boice, waterboarding causes suffocation and water inhalation, simulating drowning. This interrogation technique has the person strapped to a flat surface at a slight angle where their feet are above their head. The interrogator will force water into the mouth and nose of the person while questioning them. This will trigger a gag reflex that makes the experience more terrifying and makes the person feel like they are really drowning. This form of torture can seem so real to the person that it can actually cause physical harm, psychological harm and death. While going through this, they struggle and as a result, bones can be broken. Water is constantly forced down their mouth and nose, which can cause damage to the lungs. All of this can cause extreme pain and suffering for the person that is going through it.
Is torture ever an acceptable practice? Is it inhumane? These have been questions asked for a long time. At the heart of all this we are asking whether torture can be morally justified. As I said before, some people say it is because it can save the lives of many people. Others believe that we are all born with inalienable human rights that protect us from things like torture. According to Jonathan White, the UN Declaration of Human Rights says that no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. This would mean that torture is not an acceptable practice and that it is inhumane.
For me, torture can never be justified. The reason I say this is: to do these things to another person, you need to become something that isn’t human. A human being is someone that respects the rights of others, that acts with compassion and does things that are just. Torture does none of these things. I believe a lot of people resort to torture because they like to harm others. They enjoy the power and control they have over the person. It isn’t about justice; it is about making a person suffer. The things done to the people at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib are fine examples. A lot of the people there were suspected terrorists. There was no real proof that they were terrorists. This would mean that many of the people that were tortured were innocent. The people who did these things to those people did not care about innocence. This is more than enough reason to not use torture. When we do use it, we become beasts and there are better ways to get information or confessions without resorting to something that is inhuman.
Works Cited: Boice, Tom. Waterboarding: It’s not a summer sport. UWF Book Club. 2008. Retrieved from: http://www.uwf.edu/bookclub/waterboarding.html
Miller, Seumas. Torture. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2008. Retrieved from: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/torture/
White, Jonathan R. Terrorism and Homeland Security. Wadsworth Cengage Learning, Belmont, CA 2009.
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