anotherlook

After reading an article this morning entitled “Poll: US divided over torture, closing Guantánamo” which states that “over half of Americans say torture is at least sometimes justified to thwart terrorist attacks and are evenly divided over whether to close the Guantánamo Bay prison” I had to wonder not only where these statistics came from (half is a large percentage – have you been polled regarding this matter – how was this poll taken?). The answer to this question can be found at the below listed link and instead of saying “half of Americans the article should say over half that were polled.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_ap_poll_obama_terrorism_method

I also had to ask myself the following questions. How well does torture work towards garnering intelligence of planned terror attacks? What is the real reason behind torture of detainees? When torture is used, why is it those administering the torture deny their acts? Are we made safer through the use of torture? How many terrorist acts have been prevented since 9/11 through the use of torture? These are just a few of the questions that need to be answered regarding torture.

Operatives in al-Qaeda/Taliban are trained to undergo torture. Obvious they would die for the cause if they are also trained to strap on a bomb and participate in suicide bombings. How then, does torture accomplish any real goal beyond telling the torturer whatever they need to hear, regardless of whether it’s truth or fiction?

If garnering information on planned terrorist attacks is not the goal of torture then what is the goal? Torture, physical, psychological, religious and sexual abuse can, on some levels, aid in controlling an individual but always serves to dehumanize, via fear and humiliation, Generally that control is not sustainable. While you may be able to control what that individual shows you, you can never truly control what they think, feel or plan inside their own bodies. All you really accomplish is to build more intense rage that will eventually boil over.

According to the Geneva Convention rules, which establish standards for the humane treatment of prisoners of war, torture is illegal and spelled out. However, like any law on the book there are always those who seek to find loopholes to turn the law into something useable to justify illegal acts of torture or criminal behavior.

When loopholes are not found, that totally justify an act, then it is simple – you just lie and deny. The lies should be the “red flag” that you are doing something wrong – if you have to lie about your actions then you know inside yourself that you probably shouldn’t be doing what you are doing.

The FBI, CIA, Homeland Security should all be working relentlessly to keep Americans safe from acts of terrorism through investigative research, following any and all leads that even hint at a possible terrorist attack – due diligence is the key. According to sporadic reports, there have been attacks in the making that have been discovered and stopped – this alone indicates that the planning of attacks is still happening so what has torture done to prevent or deter these actions?

The bottom line is that torture does not deter terrorist acts, hate and distrust increases as a result of torture and “leaders” that deny their participation in or justify torture as a means to garner information are playing “we the people” for stupid.

Most importantly, “we the people” are showing how gullible we truly are by believing the lie and accepting the justifications of our “leaders” with no real logical thought on the matter thereby making us knowing accomplices in these heinous crimes against humanity.

And that’s the way I see it!!

La Tour Eiffel SL210 Suede Ziparound Wallet - Beig