I personally think it's completely unacceptable. What's the difference between lawbreakers and lawmakers then?
I understand the utilitarian argument, that places the good of the most number of people over the bad done to one person.
But I disagree, because nothing can justify torture. No matter who does it and for what reasons. What's wrong is wrong. People have dignity, even the worst of terrorists are people with real emotions, just like you and I. Some would not even be evil, just supremely misguided. And nobody is completely bad, just like nobody is all good.
The worst part with these torture tactics is, there doesn't really seem to be any set procedure, or limits. Or if there are, I hardly think there is an effective checking mechanism.
I think the second video Summer3 posted is the one I think it is (I didn't want to watch because I found it disturbing enough the few times I did). Clearly, so many would abuse their powers and think it justified. This is just one incident that was leaked. I don't think it's far-fetched to hypothesise that there are many many more incidents out there. The whole secretive nature of this thing conveniently allows soldiers and whoever it is to just do whatever they like. Probably even as we speak, as you're reading this.
And the fact that many of these tortured suspects (some of them overly brutally tortured) are innocent! Everybody is so terrorised by the idea of terror that they'd just report any suspicious anything. And there you have it, a life ruined, a person's dignity stripped.
Some would say, 1 innocent down, but hey we got 10 real terrorists. I think everytime an innocent is condemned, or worse, killed by torture, before he could have been proven guilty, there's a huge unjustifiable failing of the law system. It's like a bit of humanity dies with that one innocent person. (I got that line from somewhere, but I'm not sure where. It just stuck because it makes so much sense to me)
Okay, maybe I am too idealistic. Maybe I should be practical. Maybe I should say, the 10 real terrorists are a good catch. The whole "humanity dies", "dignity, etc" thing - it's just words, just rhetoric. We have to make the world a better place, and a few sacrifices here and there are unfortunate but necessary.
But even practically, my feeling is that everytime 1 innocent goes down, 10 other innocents become terrorists. The whole system and the unfairness and brutality of it creates such fury among people that the best of them resort to violence because it seems to be all the world has come down to.
The terrorists didn't spring up from nowhere. Yes, they are wrong, insane, cruel, and all of that. I don't want to defend what they do, because there is nothing that can just justify such acts. I will never endorse such a thing. All the lives lost, families ruined, all because of some sick agenda. Really horrible.
But they are after all normal people. It is circumstances that have shaped them. The US has been interfering in the Middle East for the past century (and is continuing to do so, largely for political and oil-related reasons). That's where the Taliban terrorists came from. I hardly think it was a random, "hey let's jihad, guys!" thought that popped out of nowhere. It was resentment that had been boiling for so long due to various injustices that they had been subjected to that has turned into an anger so wild they have become almost animal-like, devoid of emotions and rationality.
That's done. It's quite certain that nothing can be done to make them realise how wrong this whole thing is. Rehabilitation sounds absolutely ridiculous in the light of what they have done and how far they have gone. They completely deserve to be punished, to be brought to justice. And I am all for that.
But I really feel the current system is perpetrating the vicious terrorism cycle, creating more terrorists everyday, by causing more resentment and anger in people. And practically, that doesn't work.
On the level of principles, even less so. The very essence of justice is being perverted, supposedly in the interests of justice. I think violence is the last thing we need in the world today.
Edited by ..kiran.. - 14 years ago
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