On Terrorists

((Cross-posted on [info]fubai 's Blog))
-- This is in response to a discussion on the re-release of the Abu Ghraib Pictures--
I'm of two minds on the whole thing. One one hand I tend to agree on the stricter definition of Torture from [info]wildmanofelroy "True torture however, purposeful infliction of significant bodily harm of a contained and controlled individual"
However, Psychological manipulation CAN be as damaging as physical torture and can leave longer-lasting scars. On the other hand the need for information IS great, but just how damaging can the information of ONE man be? From what I understand the terrorists operate in un-connected cells so at best you might get a cell and that's it. I dunno the whole picture there so I maybe totally off-base on that assesment.

But I think it depends on the person being questioned to and how much strain they can take. I know OUR soldiers, especially the SpecOps boys, are trained to be highly-resistant to torture and I have no doubt so some of the terrorsits, so more effort might be required. However I do NOT approve the the use of degrading torture. Sodomizing them with wooden poles may sound funny, but is above and beyond the call of neccessity and right over into the realm of cruelty. So I guess the fine line to worry about is when does questioning become torture? When do interrogation techniques cross from neccessary into unecessary?

As for as the 100 of theirs for one of ours, I have to disagree there...what is the value of human life? Because our values are different from theirs doesn't make us superior so we aren't really worth anymore except to ourselves. These prisoners might be "crazed fanatics" and such but they are ultimatley human beings with mothers and fatehrs and spouses and children. At what point does the cycle of cruelty and hatred stop? Kill or torture someone's father now and 10 years down the road their children will come back for vengeance. The more we kill of them the angrier they become and the more they can justify their terrorist activities.

Where does it stop? How can it stop? maybe we need to look at why and how it began, find a way to make amends for the mistakes made on all sides of this stupidity. They can't be so stupid as to believe that all of the world will convert to Islam just because they show how strong they are in their faith in their willingness to die for it. What do they really want? They can't rid the world of the unfaithful no matter how hard they try...and they aren't tryin with the rest of the world, just the Western World. Why? How can it be fixed? Not with torture and guns (Which do have their occasional place).

I'm not a total liberal whiny arsehole, there are times when I think some people just need a killin' to make the world a better place...but there are limits.

And as far as the current administration goes if they had just said, "We don't know if their are WMD's there, but Saddam is commiting Genocide, just like Hitrler was doing..." we'd have cheered them all on. That we're still there now is just a testament to their stupidity and greed. Not to say the rest of the world hasn't been trying to make money off the middle east for years so It's just Americas turn to get fat and rich...not that it makes us any better.

Heh I bet if the terrorists started trying to Bomb people in China they'd get a whole different response. Hell let the Chinese do all the dirty work, they've been torturing people for centuries without any qualms whatsoever...