On the Use of Torture to Obtain Information

I just finished watching a documentary called "Torture: America's Dirty Business," created by Channel 4 (UK). The illegal detentions and torture conducted during the Bush/Cheney years were abhorrent.

War is one thing, but torture is another. It is true that war causes more suffering to more people than torture. War is often evil, as well. But in the case of torture, the moral dilemma is clear and striking. In war, some things are necessary, but there is no necessity to torture a prisoner. There are no belligerents in a secure prison. A prisoner is powerless to resist. He cannot harm anyone. During the period of a prisoner's confinement, the State is responsible for his care. It is wicked for the State to inflict pain and suffering upon a helpless prisoner. This is not the way to gain support and influence people. Those who cannot see why torture is evil have a difficulty in grasping the difference between right and wrong.

The powers of the West cannot sink to the level of their enemies. We have a higher standard of conduct than those that we battle. When our enemies commit evil, it marks them for what they are. There is a spiritual cost to committing evil, and the cost is very high indeed. "Winning at any cost" is a bad business, because so many costs are hidden and difficult to appreciate. Torture one person, and a hundred new enemies are made, and some of these enemies might have been our allies, or at the very least remained neutral, if we had kept to the path of righteousness. Without a strict code of ethics, the distinction between who is good and who is evil is diminished. The torturer loses the support of good people by committing torture. It is more valuable to retain the good opinion of good people than to seek short-term gain through underhanded means.

From a practical standpoint (if such a consideration is even worth discussing), torture is an ineffective method of obtaining information. A person undergoing torture will say anything at all that their captor wants to hear. But that fine point pales in comparison to the ethical question.

I am pleased that Obama has reaffirmed America's opposition to human rights abuses. Foreigners should be aware that the majority of Americans disapprove of the abuses that were allowed to occur under the Bush/Cheney Administration. Such abuses proved counter-productive to American interests in every way imaginable.