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Quote by: Hellsea  Do you honestly think that major covert organizations in the United States do not use torture methods? It is better to torture a few men without the world knowing it, then to have thousands..even millions die because you played nice with the bad guys. And because you were "nice” you lost the opportunity to gather valuable information that would lead to a cell, headquarters, and or a group of recruits making plans of terror. |
If that were the only way to prevent terrorist attacks, the only way to gather information, then I might agree that torture would be worthwhile. But it is not the only way to gather information, or to fight terrorism, and so it should not be used until it is, literally, the last resort. I think that the elements of the US government that use torture do not use it as the last resort, but as a convenient means to an end, and that makes it immoral, whatever the potential benefit, and whatever the crime of the terrorist.
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Quote by: Hellsea Brien, there is a huge difference where our country and the terrorists are concerned. The terrorist’s, guess who they torture... They torture innocent American soldiers, men who did no wrong. The soldiers didn't strap bombs to children, give them a gun, tell them to "have faith," then make them blow themselves up. That is what the terrorists do. We are fighting because we believe we, and other countries should have freedom. They are fighting because they are ruthless monsters whose only objective is to cause fear and panic worldwide. |
Nonsense. There is no difference between atrocities. Torture is not made acceptable by your political stance, nor by your criminal history. We are set against them: they are our enemies. They strike at us with the weapons at their disposal, we strike at them with the weapons that are at our disposal. Bombing innocent civilians into the ground is not made more palatable when it is done with planes and missiles than when it is done with cars and bomb vests. We do not have the moral high ground here, and we won't as long as we see them as monsters that need to be killed just because they are our enemies.
They are people. They need to be dealt with as people, or we are monsters, too.
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Quote by: Hellsea Where the death penalty is concerned, I think that it too should be used in extreme cases. Such cases would be with murderers (brutal murders and serial killers). Pedophiles and rapists should just be locked in a room and never allowed to see the light of day again. |
Same answer as above. They are people, who need to be dealt with as people. Their actions make them people that cannot be allowed among other people, but they are, nonetheless, people. Human beings. Not trash, not filth, not monsters: people.