Free

Waterboarding and Torture - Essay Example

Summary

"Waterboarding and Torture" paper examines waterboarding which entails a form of water torture in which the victim is strapped to an inclined board with his head lowered and his feet raised. While using waterboarding to extract information, interrogators hold a piece of cloth over the nose. …

Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing

GRAB THE BEST PAPER98% of users find it useful

Read Text Preview

Subject: Military
Type: Essay
Level: Masters
Pages: 1 (250 words)
Downloads: 3
Author: fcorkery

Extract of sample "Waterboarding and Torture"

Numerous debates have arisen over whether waterboarding can be regarded as torture; in my opinion, waterboarding can be considered to be torture. Hostettler (2011) asserts that the use of this method to obtain information from suspects constitutes torture because it inflicts severe mental and physical suffering.

Persons who undergo this form of torture have their minds and personality destabilized. Furthermore, their senses, as well as their mind, undergo profound alteration, which results from the torture they experience. In addition, waterboarding violates the Geneva Convention, which states that war prisoners should always be treated humanely. Article 18 of the convention prohibits any form of coercion as well as mental and physical torture. Another reason why waterboarding constitutes torture is that the person under torture is in the custody of the one inflicting the pain. Thus, the victim of the torture cannot be able to rescue himself from the situation since the interrogators control him physically.

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Waterboarding and Torture

George Bush and Human Rights Abuses since 9/11

Yet there are two sides to every argument and for all of the modern day Patrick Henry's who decries such incidents as Guantanamo Bay and waterboarding, there are an equal amount of people who agree wholeheartedly with all of the changes that have taken place in the United States.... For instance, Amnesty International has been one of the most outspoken groups in blaming Bush personally, especially for the waterboarding....

10 Pages (2500 words) Essay

Interrogation Techniques: Tactic or Torture

Interrogation Techniques: Tactic or torture Date Abstract The military, intelligence agencies, and the police officers commonly use intelligence techniques in order to extract intended information from the subjects.... There are numerous interrogation techniques, which include deception, waterboarding, torture, and Reid technique among others.... torture, as an interrogation technique in the United State has been used over the years.... Department of Justice have on several instances authorized torture techniques especially waterboarding....

4 Pages (1000 words) Research Paper

The United States Policy on Torture

Research Memo To: Members of the SSCI From: Subj: Interrogation and torture Section: “I understand and will uphold the ideals of academic honesty as stated in the Honor Code” Executive Summary The following report has been prepared by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI).... This document articulated the United States stance on detainment and torture.... hellip; The report considers the United States policy on torture.... The United States Military Commissions Act of 2006 is investigated as condoning measures of torture and detainment for enemy combatants....

4 Pages (1000 words) Research Paper

Thomas friedman is the chief forign correspondent

David Irvine denoted that “War crime” is characterized as a criminal act which violates global law of war due to failure of other parties to maintain humanity during war and use of inadequate force by the states concerned thus causing torture (2009). torture is illegal… This is shown by the support of USA law on 1949 Geneva Accords since the four conventions which were initiated in Geneva have been ratified by the USA law.... For instance, in convention 1 article 3 people are protected against torture, assault, attack However, two protocols of Geneva conventions have not been ratified by the law of United States of America....

5 Pages (1250 words) Term Paper

The Reality of Torture in the Bush Administration

The author concludes that the Bush administration was responsible for the use of torture, without legal, moral or tactical justification.... He founded his argument on the accepted definitions of the terms “war crimes” and “torture” that can be found in the Uniform Code of Military Justice, US law and the 1949 Geneva accords.... torture means an act committed by a person acting under the color of law specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering upon another person within his custody or physical control....

5 Pages (1250 words) Term Paper

Confronting Terror: Coercion

he concerned authorities have never duly laid out the distinction between coercion and torture (which is widely condemned by courts worldwide).... No court of law has clearly established the limits on coercion, and the United Nations' Convention against torture merely offered an inadequate definition of the word 'torture' with terms that were open to interpretation.... Coercion involves using certain harsh interrogation methods including waterboarding, starvation, and hypothermia....

5 Pages (1250 words) Research Paper

Is Torture Ever Acceptable

An author of this essay seeks to discuss theories of torture, including the consequentialist theory, the deontological theory, and the utilitarian theory, in order to investigate whether the torture is acceptable or not.... The paper suggests that the torture is acceptable in extreme circumstances.... nbsp;… Is torture ever acceptable?... In a poll that was conducted by ABC News/Washington Post in May 2004, 63 percent of the voters denied that torture can ever be acceptable whereas the rest voted in favor of its occasional acceptability (Head, 2013)....

7 Pages (1750 words) Research Paper

Torture in Military Ethics

"torture in Military Ethics" paper contains a debate regarding military ethics and the use of torture during the war, plus what perspective the world holds towards it.... A definition of torture defines it as a deliberate act of inflicting psychological or physical suffering, through pain to a being.... torture, before the onset of the twenty-first century, remained a vice universally opposed by the globe, being termed as unnecessary and inhumane....

7 Pages (1750 words) Coursework