Question

Terrorism and Torture

WASHINGTON—Most Americans and a majority of people in Britain, France and South Korea say torturing terrorism suspects is justified at least in rare instances, according to AP-Ipsos polling. The United States has drawn criticism from human rights groups and many governments, especially in Europe, for its treatment of terror suspects. President Bush and other top officials have said the U.S. does not torture, but some suspects in American custody have alleged they were victims of severe mistreatment. The polling, in the United States and eight of its closest allies, found that in Canada, Mexico and Germany people are divided on whether torture is ever justified. Most people opposed torture under any circumstances in Spain and Italy. “I don’t think we should go out and string everybody up by their thumbs until somebody talks. But if there is definitely a good reason to get an answer, we should do whatever it takes,” said Billy Adams, a retiree from Tomball, Texas. In America, 61 percent of those surveyed agreed torture is justified at least on rare occasions. Almost nine in 10 in South Korea and just over half in France and Britain felt that way.

Do you agree with most Americans that the use of torture is sometimes morally permissible in fighting terrorism? If so, what circumstances do you think would justify torture? If not, why not? How might a Natural Law Theory justify (or oppose) torture? How Natural Law theorist argue against torturing suspected terrorists?

Answer 1

Answer.

The use of torture to gain important information from suspected terrorists could be only rarely or never justifiedfrom a moral standpoint. torture can be arguably morally wrong as it is generally defined in part as the deliberate infliction of extreme suffering and by virtue of this, torture as a tactic in counter-terrorist programme is morally wrong.

While the utilitarian moral theory would justify torture if performing it constituted a reduction in much greater evil of terrorism, from a moral liberal perspective, torture is incompatible with the values underpinning liberal institutions and it therefore is immoral because torture stands as a violation of autonomy. Thus, there is an ethical duty to minimize harm by making only judicious and morally responsible response and that which adopts a minimal reliance of physical or psychological harm onto añother person.

Now if we consider natural law for whether we can justly use torture against other human beings in terrorism , we can say that it is unnatural to torture people because it violates the natural right of the tortured individual and it defies the natural dignity of the victim. According to the proponent of the Ntaural Law theory, Thomas Acquinas, Just as being tortured isn't natural, torturing someone isn't natural either and it is therefore immoral sinc God didn’t intend human beings to feel pain in the form that is perpetrated by acts of torture.