The Attempted Genocide of Native Americans - Essay Example

On one side of this national issue are those who believe that torture is necessary and justifiable to safeguard the lives of innocent people. On the other side are those who believe that the allowance of torture destroys our national commitment to the inherent rights of all human beings.

In the middle of this heated debate are those who believe that psychological torture, non-physical torture, should be permissible. It is not agreed that America should be permitted to use torture as a means of obtaining information from detainees. The United States was established on absolute principles of human rights, and the use of torture, whether physical or non-physical, past or present, violates those principles. 
Since the attacks of 9/11, many Americans find it difficult to feel sympathy for terrorists who suffer, or for those who die mercilessly at the hands of their torturers. Unfortunately, that is human emotion at work, not ethics. Torture is a violation of human rights. In his Time to Think About Torture, Jonathan Alter admits that "we can't legalize physical torture; it's contrary to American values."

The UN Convention against torture came into force in 1987, prohibiting the acts that cause severe pain or suffering in order to gain information from prisoners. Alter wonders if using methods just short of physical torture will force four hijacking suspects to talk. He also added that he was not advocating the use of "cattle prods" or "rubber hoses", but "psychological torture.” The act of psychological torture is subjecting a prisoner to mental stress, such as sleep deprivation, putting them in stressful situations, and sensory deprivation, in order to force a confession.

Psychological torture, which leaves no visible signs of abuse, is still torture and is illegal. According to research, prisoners subjected only to psychological torture report as much mental anguish as those who are beaten. The lasting effects psychological torture inflicts are as detrimental as those of physical torture. 
Novelist and journalist Henry Porter wrote in his article that "torture is an absolute evil and there can be no allowances, especially in a country which stands for liberty and spends a good deal of time distinguishing itself from the Taliban and al-Qaeda on those grounds.”

If we as a nation disregard the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, our Constitution, and the UN convention against torture by using the same tactics as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, then we become no different than the ones we oppose. Terrorism has spread fear among Americans. Our citizens have desperately tried to justify the means of torture. The ticking bomb scenario, which implies that torture should be used to gain useful information that may prevent the possible loss of many lives, is just a scenario. It is a tactic used to persuade fearful Americans that torture is necessary.

In discussing the fear of Americans, Porter states, "It is to be hoped that their very understandable fears do not lead to a further deterioration of human rights." Common sense and intelligence should be used to fight terrorism, not torture created by fear that opposes human rights. Torture is counterterrorism.
Advocating any type of torture defeats the purpose of the Constitution, which guarantees protection against cruel and unusual punishment. 
Just as slavery and genocide are wrong for America, so is torture.

Torture, whether physical, psychological, mild or severe, will lead to more severe tactics. A suspect cannot expect to receive a fair trial when he is forced to make a confession to a crime of which he is not guilty, simply because his tolerance for pain is low. The use of torture threatens the foundation of our great nation by ignoring the values that made it great.

Torture defies our Constitution by denying a suspect the right to be treated as a human. Torture in America, sometimes hidden by a veil of amnesia, is a part of our history. The U.S. conquest of the Philippines around 1900, the genocide of the Natives, and the slavery of Blacks, to name only a few, should never be forgotten and should be used as a tool to remind us that America should not, cannot, and will not use torture on the basis of whether it serves our interests.
The issue of whether or not to use torture can be answered by the words of Thomas Jefferson, "If the United States only survives by abandoning the principles that established it, then it hasn't survived at all."