Torture

According to the author, Michael Levin, torture would be a useful means of extracting info from criminals that are guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. He emphasizes throughout the article that torture would not be used as a form of punishment. If torture were used as a punishment then many people who were wrongly convicted would sure enough end up having their rights violated and I'm sure that it would lead to a lot lower crime rates. Levin starts the article off by comparing the practice of torture to how it is viewed in todays society. Today, people believe that torture is "a throwback to a more brutal age." I believe however that torture isn't something that was meant to look pretty...meaning to understand the reasoning behind torture you can't just be the observer6. He talks about how we could use torture to our advantage as a precautionary safety measurement. He gives a specific example in this text that talks about a scenario, that in a way foreshadowed the events of 9/11,about terrorism. Specifically about a fictional bombing event where a terrorist was caught and new where a bomb was located that was set to go off at a specific time in a highly populated area. Levin seems to believe that there are times of need where we should use torture as a device to extract information from people. He clearly reminds the audience that he is not wishing to use this on a regular basis. Simply to extract information from the obviously guilty people that hold innocent lives in their hands.

Going back to the first thing addressed in Levin's article...the problem of keeping our image. We discussed in class that people don't want to be portrayed in a barbaric way. They want to take a higher moral ground and be the "better man/women". If we worry about how we look instead of how to keep ourselves safe and comfortable then we will not be able to maintain our image of being a nation regarded as the super power of the modern world.

Another argument against the use of torture is that it's unconstitutional and lacks due process. The constitution isn't something that the whole world looks to when interpreting right from wrong in a court of law. It's an American document that applies to American citizens, it shouldn't be looked at when dealing with someone who is from a foreign country. I understand that not all terrorist are from foreign countries but the majority of them are in todays world. Specifically the middle east in countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Syria, and Sudan. I believe that there is some truth that can be held to the stereo-type that a Muslim is more likely to be a terrorists than a Caucasian man/women. The rights of a terrorists are given up as soon as they decide to walk down the path of illegal actions that put others lives in their hands.