The UNCAT (United Nations Against Torture) defines torture as:any act, by which severe pain or suffering, mental or physical is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him, information or a confession punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity.(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torture )How does this relate to our daily lives? We all know that torture happens, or at least that at one point it did.Why should this now concern us? One would certainly think that we are too advanced a nation, too deep into human rights, to allow something as gruesome as torture to not only occur but be encouraged, under our authority.However, the United States, and more accuratly, the Bush Administration has caught a lot of heat about torture. There have been countless accusations, many of which seem to hard to dispute. Sadly, as we look closer at the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp the senseless torture seems all the more evident.
The Camp's severity was based on the idea that all inmates were terrorists and held important information about upcoming attacks on the Nation. Unfortunatly, this was often untrue. Many of the people held were not actually guilty of terrorism. The inhumanity of the camp was supposed to give insentive for the release of valuable information in interrogation-type situations, but the legitimacy of the confessions given in such stressful situations is questionable at best.There are massive denials of this of course, but reports show, without a doubt, the horrbile physical and mental crimes inflicted upon the men in captivity. This includes prolonged isolation, exposure to extreme temperatures, sensory bombardment, and shackling in terribly uncomfortable positions for extened periods of time.The physical aspect of this was horrible, but the crushing mental defeat and humiliation was unimaginable. Interrogators would desecrate and burn the Koran to enrage and sadden the helpless believers. They would tease them with threats of lifetimes in prison, and force them into shame-filled moments of nudity where all that was sacred to them as people was thrown away.
To us, this may seem gruesome, sadistic, and barbaric, but in a way, the inhumanity was "normal" . They say it was not intened to be a punishment, but to force confessions of terrorist ties. The sick and injured captives that would not participate in cruelty would be stripped of "luxery items" such as beds, blankets, and toilet paper, or spent a month or more in a freezing isolation cell.I think that we should be ashamed that not only as a country, but we as people on the most basic level, are allowing this to happen. Yes, the prison system has its place for those who have done wrong or harmed others. Yes, information such as future attack plans could save countless lives. However, does this mean that I agree with the humiliating and terrible conditions that were forced upon individuals that were not always 100% guilty? No.To agree with barbaric and horrbile acts is to be a weapon of terror. To instill shame and pain upon others is no better than what it is we claim to be fighting.I hear so many people say that America is the greatest nation on earth. If thats true, why are we allowing such horrible things to happen on our watch? Why are we destroying, peice by peice, other people? How does that make us any better than the enemy? I can honestly say, that I believe it makes us just a bad, just a depraived and immoral any other "terrorist"
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