Waterboarding Research Paper

Through out the history of the country, the U.S. have torture people for information. For example, Brown v. Mississippi a sheriff who questioned three African Americans, in the most heinous way. He hipped and hanged them for no true reason (Hickey, T., 2014). The

The Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution says, “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” The fundamental idea of torture is to inflict mental or physical pain onto a suspect to coerce them into revealing information we desire. This tactic is illegal because it violates the Constitution, and in addition, it violates international agreements that our nation has committed itself to. The general provisions of the Geneva Conference of 1949 prevent the use of torture in warfare; the document specifically outlaws “Outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating or degrading treatment…” By violating these laws, particularly the Constitution, our nation

In August of 2002, without consulting Congress, the Bush administration changed the definition of torture by military standards to allow for previously illegal interrogation techniques. (Inside Guantanamo) Bush lost a lot of respect from American citizens for doing this on his own instead of consulting Congress because it added a lot of suspicion that he was trying to hide something. The Pentagon organized the interrogation techniques into three categories. The first one included yelling and deception techniques and the second included sensory deprivation, isolation, stress positions, extensive interrogation, hooding, clothing removal, and the use of phobias. The third and most severe category included waterboarding and even death threats. (Greenberg 221) Bush wanted justice to be served to the men who planned and carried out the deaths of thousands of innocent Americans in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He thought the families of the thousands killed that day deserved that justice. Soon after, President Bush sent 14 men to Guantanamo Bay so that justice could be served to them by the military commissions he had proposed. They were to be put under the custody of the CIA where they would get what Bush thought they deserved and thanks to the Bybee Memo, Bush had complete, unlimited power when it came to core war matters such as this. While constitutional, the actions of the Bush administration as he went behind Congress’s back and came up with a new definition for torture

When someone wants a law they take it to the judge to debate on it. Our country has been suffering from torture for so long. Someone decided to take it to the judge.After a great debate, the judicial branch sent their information to the legislative branch who concluded that they as well wanted it as a bill. President George W. Bush established that he didn't like this idea so he vetoed the bill. Bush states "The bill Congress sent me would take away one of the most valuable tools in the war on terror," In the article, Bush Vetoes Bill Banning Torture, it states “President George W. Bush said Saturday he vetoed legislation that would ban the CIA from using harsh interrogation methods such as waterboarding to break suspected terrorists because

Today in the United States constitution we have the Eighth amendment which states that no person shall be subject to cruel and unusual punishment. Cruel and unusual punishment encompasses a wide range of things including any form of torture. Using the Merian-Webster definition, “torture is the act of causing severe physical pain as a form of punishment or as a way to force someone to do or say something.”(2013) Whether it is for the most evil and heinous crime or a minor infraction torture is not admissible in any way shape or form. In his article, “On Waterboarding: Legal Interpretation and the Continuing Struggle for Human Rights,” Daniel Kanstroom goes into depth about the question, “Should we balance heinousness and cruelty against

Waterboarding is a form of water torture used as a coercive interrogation technique. It is a simulation of drowning and it is also referred to as, interrupted drowning. The process involves a person’s face being covered with a cloth and large amounts of water is continually poured on their face creating a drowning sensation. This method is considered as one of the top interrogation methods used to elicit information and coerce its victims to confess. Waterboarding may lead to adverse health complications such as lungs damage, brain damage, a lifelong psychological damage and in some cases, death. The USA has

Bloche talks about how advanced interrogation and torture techniques have emerged to adapt to specific situations; and that many people believe that torture doesn’t help anything because people will say anything to get out of such tortures (Bloche 115). The article states that nothing can force someone to tell the truth; however, through harsh methods of abuse, you can instill a sense of hopelessness in the person being interrogated (Bloche

Memos from the Department of Defense called for the implementation of enhanced interrogation techniques to begin immediately and to be sure “these are carried out”, these were in accordance with the White House. All of President Bush’s closest cabinet members and national security advisers signed off on enhanced interrogation, believing that under the legal research conducted the techniques satisfied the legal standard as not being torture, (Bartz, 2006)

The ticking bomb scenario is a fallacy. You have a guy in custody. How do you “know” that there is a ticking bomb about to detonate? How do you “know” that this is the person who has that information? Ultimately you can’t “know” those things. You may highly suspect that someone has information, so then you green light waterboarding suspects. How do the authorities know you haven’t planted a bomb in downtown Chicago about to go off? They’ll have to torture you just to make sure. In at least one case, they were also "interrogating" the children of the detainee they thought had information. One Bush Administration memo said that it would be acceptable to crush the testicles of children in custody if they thought they could get information. So the Bush Administration authorized torture of children to get information out of their parents who were suspected of having information.

It is of the belief that one of the great things about being a citizen of the United States of America is, freedom. It is also the belief that freedom is one of the reasons that citizenship in America is highly sought by individuals from other countries wanting to escape the limitations and restrictions of freedom governed by their native country. The United States of America’s Constitution of 1787, was created to form the government while incorporating basic law with the promise to provide fixed freedoms to the American people (Rosen & Rubenstein, 2014). It was determined however, that additions needed to be made to the Constitution that furthered American’s freedom with limitations that the government could impose on them, thus the proposition

People’s imaginations start to go wild when they hear the word torture. However, there are enhanced interrogation techniques that are more humane than others. Waterboarding, for example, simulates the effect of drowning and is highly recommended by people such as former Vice President Dick Cheney (Defrank). It is highly unpleasant, but breaks no bones and leaves no bruises. It also exposes those performing the interrogation to lesser psychological strain than other methods that could be used would. Torture is accused of being a cancer in society, but if regulated and reserved for the “especially” bad guys, societal homeostasis would be maintained.

In the United States legal system, torture is currently defined as “an act committed by a person acting under the color of law specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering (other than pain or suffering incidental to lawful sanctions) upon another person within his custody or physical control.” as defined by Office of the Law Revision Counsel, U.S. House of Representatives (US Code, 1) Though this is a seemingly black and white definition, the conditional “…other than pain or suffering incidental to lawful sanctions…” have led many to question what precisely this entails. In other words, what are the lawful sanctions that permit such acts? Are they ethically right? Where is the line drawn as torture

The Queen who claimed to have been a king. Sounds confusing, right? That’s just the start to this story. Let’s start from the beginning Queen Neelix, mother of all beauty. Every man wanted her and not gonna lie, probably some women.

These considerations certainly establish a compelling argument for the use of waterboarding as a means to collect important information in a combat environment. There are, however, compelling arguments against the use of any form of torture. One of the more prominent arguments is that it does not provide officials with any actual intelligence. A former FBI interrogator, Ali Soufan, presents a logical argument that waterboarding does not work. He explains that two terrorists, Abu Zubaydah and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, were waterboarded 83 and 183 times respectively (Collins, 2014). It is hard to imagine that anything beyond the first few attempts would have truly provided any form of actionable intelligence. At this point in their torture, these two terrorists may only provide false information that may seem important. In their eyes, this would provide the quickest

From an environmental standpoint nuclear power plants are extremely clean when it comes to electrical power generation. However, there are a lot of ways where nuclear power plants can go wrong. Improperly functioning a nuclear power plant can create problematic situations. Take the Chernobyl disaster for instance, because of their poorly designed nuclear power plant it released tons of radioactivity which scattered across the atmosphere. This resulted in everyone leaving the city. Another recent incident was in Fukushima (Japan), a tsunami hit the nuclear power plants which caused the tins to break and release radioactivity as well. Still to this day there is radioactive dust scattered all over the ground. Moreover, mining and purifying uranium