I read this online somewhere..."Two guys break into your house and try to kidnap your daughter. While you fight with one, the other leaves with your daughter. You subdue the 2nd guy and you know he knows where the first guy is taking your daughter. Do you treat him humanely or do you do everything in your power to find out where he is taking your daughter?"

 

While waiting for the police to arrive, I know I'm doing everything in my power to find out where he took my daughter.

 

 

Does torture work all of the time, nope. Does it give actionable intelligence sometimes, yes. I think our official policy should be that we don't do it, but in reality it probably is the right thing to do in some occasions.

Would anyone be for waterboarding Ms Clinton to finally get the lowdown on those damn emails? Do you think she would cave?

 

She'd never cave. Bill would cave as soon as they turned the faucet on to fill the jug with water to water board him.

No.

No.

 

I agree. I think there are a plethora of reasons supporting your stance. May I ask, what is your biggest reason for being against this practice. Thank you.

I agree. I think there are a plethora of reasons supporting your stance. May I ask, what is your biggest reason for being against this practice. Thank you.

 

The biggest are 1) i don't think it actually produces the results wanted, or only in a limited way. Torture invites someone to say what you want them to say, not necessarily the truth. 2) It is a violation of the Geneva Convention. And it doesn't matter if the people being tortured are from the GC countries or not. The principles apply, IMO. 3) I believe America should be a human rights leader, not a leader in violating human rights. 4) I don't believe in the death penalty in large part because (in most cases) one cannot be 100% certain that no human error exists in passing that judgement. I believe that the margin of error is greater with regard to torture because there is much, much less (if any) demand for facts prior to carrying out the torture.

Far worse torture methods out there than waterboarding... Gray area for me.. Case by case decision.. Our official stance should be no but could and should be at times...

The biggest are 1) i don't think it actually produces the results wanted, or only in a limited way. Torture invites someone to say what you want them to say, not necessarily the truth. 2) It is a violation of the Geneva Convention. And it doesn't matter if the people being tortured are from the GC countries or not. The principles apply, IMO. 3) I believe America should be a human rights leader, not a leader in violating human rights. 4) I don't believe in the death penalty in large part because (in most cases) one cannot be 100% certain that no human error exists in passing that judgement. I believe that the margin of error is greater with regard to torture because there is much, much less (if any) demand for facts prior to carrying out the torture.

 

I wanted to ask the question because I knew you would provide the perfect response. Beautiful answer. The only thing that I would add is that this kind of action on the part of our country does harm to our country and , I think, may actually put us at even greater risk for attack. This is precisely what ISIS would love us to do. Just another recruiting tool for them.

I have no problem with waterboarding. If it saves 1 American life it is worth it.

 

We need to stop acting like it would make the terrorists treat us worse. They are going to do what they do no matter what we do. That's the facts.

I have no problem with waterboarding. If it saves 1 American life it is worth it.

 

We need to stop acting like it would make the terrorists treat us worse. They are going to do what they do no matter what we do. That's the facts.

 

True. I, do, however, think that it just makes us look worse in the eyes of the world and groups like ISIS can use it to support their views that America is bad. Probably helps them in their recruiting. I think ISIS wants us to torture.

True. I, do, however, think that it just makes us look worse in the eyes of the world and groups like ISIS can use it to support their views that America is bad. Probably helps them in their recruiting. I think ISIS wants us to torture.

 

I feel that is another falsehood. ISIS has no problem recruiting.

I have no sympathy or remorse for actions taken against someone who wants to kill me. Do whatever you have to do to keep that from happening. Torture and enhanced interrogation is temporary, death is forever. Who's the bad guy in this situation?

Here's the rub we call waterboarding torture (I'm not sure I agree but whatever, I'll accept it for sake of argument).

 

ISIS publicly decapitates people, they put them in cages and set them on fire, they put them in cages and throw the cage in water. They hide among civilians and make bases in schools and hospitals.

 

My conscience would be 100% clear and I'd still feel we had the moral high ground if we waterboarded every ISIS fighter we catch and investigated any information they give.

Here's the rub we call waterboarding torture (I'm not sure I agree but whatever, I'll accept it for sake of argument).

 

ISIS publicly decapitates people, they put them in cages and set them on fire, they put them in cages and throw the cage in water. They hide among civilians and make bases in schools and hospitals.

 

My conscience would be 100% clear and I'd still feel we had the moral high ground if we waterboarded every ISIS fighter we catch and investigated any information they give.

 

I understand your feelings. Don't get me wrong. These are terrible people doing terrible things. I just wonder if we become better or worse as a nation and a people if we join them in these same kind of acts. I just know most of the high-ranking military people seem to be against it.

I understand your feelings. Don't get me wrong. These are terrible people doing terrible things. I just wonder if we become better or worse as a nation and a people if we join them in these same kind of acts. I just know most of the high-ranking military people seem to be against it.

 

And I'll defer to them but by the same token if the opinion changes I'd be good with that as well. Personally I'd start every Jihadist we catch on an all pork diet. Let's see how deep their convictions really are.

I don't necessarily care if we do that, but if we do, we can no longer complain about what other countries do.

 

Here's the difference I see:

 

When other countries have captured people and have done it, it's usually been doing it to journalists or people with no knowledge of our affairs, which even the common soldier most likely wouldn't have knowledge of our plans or anything that would be of much use to the enemy, meaning that they are doing it just to do it and to cause pain.

 

If we're doing it, it would be to get information that would save lives.