Politics: Politics of War And Torture Of Terrorists: Why Torturing Of Prisoners Is Wrong

1. How many prisoners in Guantanamo and other places are actually dedicated to killing all Americans (before they got in there)? If you're Muslim and living in Afghanistan, is that a crime? A crime deserving of torture? Why assume that all prisoners of the US are enemies of the US? Is everyone who is in the US Penal System truly guilty? Do they deserve torture? Why don't we waterboard Ken Lay to get him to admit to ruining the lives of millions of people?

2. If the men and women in US prisons aren't anti-US going in, what do you think they are going to be coming out (assuming they get out)? Or, how are my friends and family going to react if they hear I was being tortured by an invading country (the US)?

Torturing prisoners is not winning the war on terrorism, it is exacerbating it.

3. How effective is torture in gaining information from these people? Really, if you were committed to killing yourself to kill innocent Americans, and not saying anything will increase the likelihood of Americans being killed, would you talk? Furthermore, if anyone DID talk to due to torture, how reliable could we base that information? How many tortured prisoners did it take to believe there were WMDs in Iraq?

Torturing prisoners leads to AFFIRMATION, not INFORMATION.

This is one of the greatest problems with humanity: we want to hear (and often, ONLY hear) what we want to hear, not what we NEED to hear. Bush is the greatest example of this: he manipulates objective information (science, military intel) into AFFIRMING what he has already decided, NOT what he needs to know to make an effective decision.

If we as a country have already decided that all Muslims, Iraqis, Afghanis are wrong, evil, murderers, then what hope is there that this war will ever end? Have you even THOUGHT about ending the war on terrorism? How would that happen? All Muslims convert to Christianity? We nuke 'em all and have a ball? Are we going to kill Mohammad Ali as well? (He's a SUNNI Muslim, you know?) There is no end to the war when WE ARE CREATING THE ENEMY (by rounding up and torturing everyone we see, we simply piss off more people, enough that they will take up arms against us, so they will get caught and tortured, meaning more will take up arms against us, et. al.).

I am not suggesting we offer a box of chocolates and a bouquet of flowers to Osama Bin Laden and call it even. This topic is not on "How would you win the war on terrorism?", it is about torture.

And yes, I believe the US is torturing prisoners (through military contractors).

Why is this happening? Because the government NEEDS to have a war to remain in power. This war will never end, ever. We are waging a war against an idea, a concept, a tactic, a WORD. We are not fighting a nation that can surrender. We are not battling a corrupt leader who can be toppled (why didn't the war on terror end with Saddam's capture?). We are fighting our own dark shadow, created by us, attached to us, will always be with us. If we try to hit our shadow, what choice does it have but to hit back?

War is big business. It makes people a lot of money. It gives politicians a lot of power AND money. It distracts the common people from real problems, such as corrupt government. When you agree that its OK to torture prisoners, you agree that the government can do whatever it wants in this situation. You make an exception. You do not follow values, you do not look for a solution, you simply want to win...even if it means cheating.