The Taxi To The Dark Side Analysis

When we think of the word torture, we often reference the action based movies that we have seen. It is a dark, cruel word, one that provides you with an eerie feeling. Many American civilians have not experienced torture first hand and the topic is somewhat of a taboo in our society, being that we often do not discuss this matter on a regular basis. What exactly is torture? According to the article “How the Law and the UN define torture”, the United States defines torture as the act of inflicting severe pain, whether it is physical or mental, for the purposes of obtaining information (The Telegraph, 2005). In other words, torture is an extreme device sometimes used in between two or more groups who are in conflict., especially in the military,
military. The documentary discussed the horrendous, cruel and unjust “interrogation techniques”, that can be also known as torture, used by the U.S. military on Afghani prisoners following the 9/11 attack. The documentary begins with the story of an innocent Afghani Taxi driver, by the name of Dilawar, who was taken by American soldiers to Bagram prison, where five days later he was found dead. The cause of his death found by the medical examiner was brutal torture and abuse due to being strapped to a ceiling, forcing him to stand up for hours at a time and being relentlesy kicked on the legs, which pulpified them. Though very unfortunate, Dilawar was not the only prisoner who suffered such treatment under U.S. custody. Through pictures, interviews, etc, this documentary provides the viewer with the shocking effects that the War on Terrorism and Bush’s administration policy on torture had on the both the United States Military and Afghani prisoners. In the end, the film sheds a negative light on Americans as a
Whether or not it was for protection against another attack or for the revengeance is debatable. One justification that is used which McCoy mentions in his article is the “ticking bomb problem”. The ticking bomb problem is the idea that there are other terrorists waiting to bomb more areas, therefore it is necessary to obtain as much information as quickly as possible (McCoy, pg. 207). McCoy argues against this idea stating that it is an excuse for “insecure” political leaders to feel empowered due to the fact that torture is most of the time ineffective and irrational (i.e. some may provide inaccurate information to stop being tortured, etx.) (McCoy, pg. 207). We can see how this argument can be supported through the documentary. In the documentary, during an interview with one of the soldiers who took a part in the unintentional murdering of Dilawar, the man was explaining why the soldiers continuously kicked Dilawar when they had no reason to. He stated that in other words, they liked to hear Dilawar scream “Allah”. This statement verifies that the soldiers felt empowered by kicking this poor, helpless man, being that they were kicking him for only satisfaction rather than to obtain information, which can also be connected to McCoy's argument. Additionally, empowerment in American society can be identified as a