Questions

1. Can water boarding be an efficient way of extracting information?
2. Are there better methods of torture for extracting information or is torture not a good way to get information?
3. Should torture be outlawed from American military?

Response

            Should torture be outlawed from American military? In Christopher Hitchens article, “Believe Me, It’s Torture”, he walks us through his experience of being water boarded. At the end of his article he quotes a man that has been through it all in the military and he claims that America can not do it both ways either you torture and get tortured or you don’t tortured and not be tortured. But I feel that torturing enemies to extract information or to just torture them is ok. I feel this way because it is the way humans have done for a very long time. People throughout history have been tortured whether that is stoning or any public humiliation, slavery, or more modern techniques like the Chinese water torture. Torturing is not humane, but in the case of military or government issues if torturing is the best and most efficient way of getting the information they need for their peoples safety then by all means. A good example of torturing benefiting American Special Forces is from the movie Zero Dark Thirty they water board and do all kinds of techniques to this man they have captured. He does not budge, but they bluff him and he ends up telling them the information they need that eventually leads to the killing of Osama Bin Laden. This movie was based off the actual events leading of Osama Bin Laden’s death. This example shows the how beneficial torture can be. My dad who served in the military told me about some of the ways they would extract information and he said some of that information saved thousands of lives and that was thanks to torture. I do not think torturing should be outlawed.