Tonight I finished watching Ghosts of Abu Ghraib (2007). It's currently playing on HBO and examines torture of prisoners in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. So disgusting. So disgusting.
I appreciate John McCain's take on torture. It doesn't really work, the tortured tells you what they think you want to hear, not the truth.There are more effective ways of getting information. Like being NICE. A common means of getting information is treating prisoners with dignity and respect, building a bridge and teaching them a better way.Maybe it doesn't work on a militant Muslim.
Jason,I think that's a valid argument...but to me, regardless of whether or not torture is effective in the short term, when you resort to torture in the struggle against a movement that is indeed horribly evil, you become that which you have become that which you were originally opposing.
You're right, but I am reminded of a line from the book "Six Days of the Condor." (They made it into a movie starring Robert Redford, but reduced the number of Condor days down to three).Higgins, a CIA department director, tells Condor that if Americans are cold, or hungry, or otherwise inconvenienced, they won't care HOW we get them oil or food, they will just want us to get it for them. Condor disagreed with him (I guess optimistic that Americans would rather go hungry than see a communist or Arab terrorist tortured), but I tend to agree with Higgins. We are a selfish group, we Americans, and given the choice between a tank of gas to make a trip to the Olive Garden, and a would-be suicide bomber having his fingernails ripped out one at a time, well, I think most Americans would choose the Olive Garden, right or wrong, its the reality.
Comments
re: Ghosts of Abu Ghraib
I appreciate John McCain's take on torture. It doesn't really work, the tortured tells you what they think you want to hear, not the truth.There are more effective ways of getting information. Like being NICE. A common means of getting information is treating prisoners with dignity and respect, building a bridge and teaching them a better way.Maybe it doesn't work on a militant Muslim.
re: Ghosts of Abu Ghraib
Jason,I think that's a valid argument...but to me, regardless of whether or not torture is effective in the short term, when you resort to torture in the struggle against a movement that is indeed horribly evil, you become that which you have become that which you were originally opposing.
re: Ghosts of Abu Ghraib
You're right, but I am reminded of a line from the book "Six Days of the Condor." (They made it into a movie starring Robert Redford, but reduced the number of Condor days down to three).Higgins, a CIA department director, tells Condor that if Americans are cold, or hungry, or otherwise inconvenienced, they won't care HOW we get them oil or food, they will just want us to get it for them. Condor disagreed with him (I guess optimistic that Americans would rather go hungry than see a communist or Arab terrorist tortured), but I tend to agree with Higgins. We are a selfish group, we Americans, and given the choice between a tank of gas to make a trip to the Olive Garden, and a would-be suicide bomber having his fingernails ripped out one at a time, well, I think most Americans would choose the Olive Garden, right or wrong, its the reality.
re: Ghosts of Abu Ghraib
If that's true, for most normal people I think it's only because they don't have to witness the torture...because it doesn't see the light of day.